NiCo₂S₄ microspheres grown on N, S co-doped reduced graphene oxide as an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting in alkaline and neutral pH

It is of vital importance to design efficient and low-cost bifunctional catalysts for the electrochemical water splitting under alkaline and neutral pH conditions. In this work, we report an efficient and stable NiCo₂S₄/N, S co-doped reduced graphene oxide (NCS/NS-rGO) electrocatalyst for water splitting, in which NCS microspheres are composed of one-dimentional (1D) nanorods grown homogeneously on the surface of NS-rGOs). The synergetic effect, abundant active sites, and hybridization of NCS/NS-rGO endow their outstanding electrocatalytic performance for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in both alkaline and neutral conditions. Furthermore, NCS/NS-rGO employed as both anode and cathode in a two-electrode alkaline and neutral system electrolyzers deliver 10 mA/cm² with the low cell voltage of 1.58 V in alkaline and 1.91 V in neutral condition. These results illustrate the rational design of carbon-supported nickel-cobalt based bifunctional materials for practical water splitting over a wide pH range.