Cobalt diselenide nanoparticles embedded within porous carbon polyhedra as advanced electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

Highly efficient and cost-effective electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is crucial for a variety of renewable energy applications. Herein, strongly coupled hybrid composites composed of cobalt diselenide (CoSe₂) nanoparticles embedded within graphitic carbon polyhedra (GCP) as high-performance ORR catalyst have been rationally designed and synthesized. The catalyst is fabricated by a convenient method, which involves the simultaneous pyrolysis and selenization of preformed Co-based zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-67). Benefiting from the unique structural features, the resulting CoSe₂/GCP hybrid catalyst shows high stability and excellent electrocatalytic activity towards ORR (the onset and half-wave potentials are 0.935 and 0.806 V vs. RHE, respectively), which is superior to the state-of-the-art commercial Pt/C catalyst (0.912 and 0.781 V vs. RHE, respectively).