PANI coated NiMoOP nanoarrays as efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution.

• PANI coated Ni 3 Mo 2 P-MoO 3 nanoarrays on nickel foam is prepared. • N species in PANI and metals in NiMoOP form metal-N bonds. • The coupling effect improves the intrinsic OER activity. • Enhanced charge transfer resistance and more active sites are obtained. • High OER activities of 290 and 412 mV at 100 and 400 mA cm−2. To obtain high-efficiency and affordable electrocatalysts for water splitting application, constructing specific nanostructures is believed as an effective solution to pursue advanced structure characteristics for improved catalysis property. In this work, a shell-core structured catalyst of polyaniline coated hybrid Ni 3 Mo 2 P-MoO 3 nanoarrays is designed for oxygen evolution. The polyaniline shell not only assures merit of high conductivity for accelerated charge transfer, but also benefits the catalysis stability. The coupling effect between nitrogen species of polyaniline shell and metals of core materials imparts improved intrinsic catalysis activity and more active sites. Hence, the present sample manifests excellent catalytic efficiency for alkali water oxidation, only needing low overpotentials of 290 and 412 mV at high current densities of 100 and 400 mA cm−2, respectively. The development of shell-core catalyst using polyaniline as shell material paves a way for activating other transition metal catalytic materials and supplies a basis for industrial water splitting applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]