# Electronic-Structure-Modulated Cu,Co-Coanchored N-Doped Nanocarbon as a Difunctional Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution and Oxygen Reduction Reactions

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a new electrocatalyst made of copper and cobalt on nitrogen-doped carbon that efficiently supports hydrogen and oxygen reactions for clean energy technologies.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is the development of a Cu/Co bimetallic catalyst with enhanced performance for both HER and ORR.

## Key findings

- The Cu/Co/NC catalyst achieved a half-wave potential of 0.865 V for oxygen reduction.
- It showed an overpotential of below 149 mV for hydrogen evolution at 10 mA/cm².
- The catalyst maintained stability for over 30 hours in both reactions.

## Abstract

To alleviate the problems of environmental pollution and energy crisis, aggressive development of clean and alternative energy technologies, in particular, water splitting, metal–air batteries, and fuel cells involving two key half reactions comprising hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen reduction (ORR), is crucial. In this work, an innovative hybrid comprising heterogeneous Cu/Co bimetallic nanoparticles homogeneously dispersed on a nitrogen-doped carbon layer (Cu/Co/NC) was constructed as a bifunctional electrocatalyst toward HER and ORR via a hydrothermal reaction along with post-solid-phase sintering technique. Thanks to the interfacial coupling and electronic synergism between the Cu and Co bimetallic nanoparticles, the Cu/Co/NC catalyst showed improved catalytic ORR activity with a half-wave potential of 0.865 V and an excellent stability of more than 30 h, even compared to 20 wt% Pt/C. The Cu/Co/NC catalyst also exhibited excellent HER catalytic performance with an overpotential of below 149 mV at 10 mA/cm2 and long-term operation for over 30 h.