Exploring the potential nexus of water electrolysis by the bimetallic nickel copper-metal organic frameworks integrated with S-rGO

The deliberate design of an effective, robust, and cost-effective electrocatalyst for hydrogen generation through water electrolysis plays a crucial role to combat the energy crisis and mitigating the rapid exhaustion of fossil fuels. Herein, we successfully synthesized a bifunctional electrocatalyst using highly porous bimetallic organic frameworks (NiCu-MOFs) integrated with sulphur doped reduced graphene oxide (S-rGO). At the current density of 10 mA cm⁻², the resultant two-dimensional electrocatalyst, S-rGO@NiCu-MOF manifests excellent catalytic efficiency for HER in acidic media with the low overpotential of 51 mV and OER in alkaline media with the overpotential of 220 mV relative to RHE. Moreover, two electrode system was implemented with S-rGO@NiCu-MOFs as both the anode and cathode to facilitate overall water splitting at a remarkable low cell voltage of 1.53 V at 10 mA cm⁻² current density in alkaline media, exhibiting superior activity compared to the integrated ideal RuO₂ and Pt/C catalyst couple.