Sulfur Incorporated CoFe2O4/Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes toward Enhanced Oxygen Evolution Reaction

•Sulfur doped CoFe2O4/MWCNT was fabricated via hydrothermal reaction.•Active sites of CoFe2O4/MWCNT were modulated via the anion doping process.•The S-CoFe2O4/MWCNT was explored as a novel OER electrode in alkaline medium.•S-CoFe2O4/MWCNT catalyst exhibited desired activity and high durability.

Developing efficient and non-noble metal electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at lower overpotential has been considered as a clean and effective strategy for replacing fossil feedstocks. Transitional metal oxides (TMO) electrocatalysts have been actively pursued because of their low-cost and strong stability in alkaline. However, the efficiency for most of developed TMO has been refrained by poor intrinsic electrical conductivity and exposed active sites. Herein, we demonstrate a sulfur incorporation strategy to accomplish greatly optimized OER performance in CoFe2O4/MWCNT (S-CFO/MWCNT) nanocomposite. Sulfur incorporation into CoFe2O4 not only brings about more active sites in CFO frameworks, but also retains the pristine stable inverse spinel crystal structure which renders the high durability of the S-CFO/MWCNT catalyst. Specifically, the electrocatalysts exhibited greatly optimized OER catalytic activity with overpotential of about 0.36 V achieving current density of about 10 mA cm−2 and Tafel slope of about 43 mV dec−1, together with stronger stability. Our work demonstrates an effective way to pursue highly efficient OER electrocatalysts.

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