A Copper Porphyrin-Based Conjugated Mesoporous Polymer-Derived Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen and Oxygen Evolution.

Scalable and robust catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are required for the implementation of water splitting technologies as a globally applicable method of producing renewable hydrogen. Herein, we report nitrogen-enriched porous carbon materials containing copper/copper oxide, derived from copper porphyrin-based conjugated mesoporous polymers (CMPs), as a bifunctional catalyst for both HER and OER. These catalysts have a high surface area, unique tubular structure, and strong synergistic effect of copper/copper oxide and porous carbons, resulting in excellent performance for water splitting. Under optimal conditions, the catalyst exhibits a quite low overpotential for OER (350 mV to reach 1.0 mA cm(-2) and 450 mV to reach 10 mA cm(-2) ) in alkaline media, which places it among the best copper-based water oxidation catalysts reported in the literature. Furthermore, the catalyst shows good catalytic activity for HER at a low overpotential (190 mV to reach 1.0 mA cm(-2) ) as well as a high current density (470 mV to reach 50 mA cm(-2) ). The results suggest that hybridized copper/carbon materials are attractive noble-metal-free catalysts for water splitting.