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Language: English

Conflict of Interest: In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Publication history: Received April 19, 2025
Revised May 24, 2025
Accepted June 7, 2025
Available online December 25, 2025

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Development of Co(OH)2/FeOOH Heterostructured Electrode via Sacrificial Template Strategy for Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzer

In Tae Kim Seung Hun Lee Seo Hyun Park Sung Jun Lee Kyeong‑Ho Kim Bong Kyun Kang Jooyoung Lee Sung Mook Choi Woo‑Jae Lee^† Yangdo Kim^† Yoo Sei Park^†

Department of Urban, Energy, and Environmental Engineering, Chungbuk National University ¹Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pusan National University ²Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pukyong National University ³Department of Electronic Materials, Devices, and Equipment Engineering, Soonchunhyang University ⁴Department of Display Materials Engineering, Soonchunhyang University ⁵6 Department of Hydrogen Energy Materials, Surface & Nano Materials Division, Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) ⁶Division of Nanotechnology and Semiconductor Engineering, Pukyong National University ⁷Department of Nanoenergy Engineering, Pusan National University ⁸Department of Nano Fusion Technology, Pusan National University

wjl@pknu.ac.kr, yangdo@pusan.ac.kr, yoosei@pusan.ac.kr

Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, December 2025, 42(14), 3415-3424(10)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-025-00498-x

Abstract

Improving the efficiency of water electrolysis is essential for reducing electrical energy consumption and enabling costeffective

hydrogen production. Among the key challenges, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) remains a major bottleneck

due to its inherently sluggish kinetics. Although platinum group metal (PGM)-based electrocatalysts offer high OER activity,

their high-cost limits large-scale commercialization. In this study, we developed a non-PGM-based heterostructured

electrocatalyst composed of Co(OH)2 and FeOOH (Co(OH)2–FeOOH/NF) on commercial nickel foam (NF), synthesized

via a sacrificial template method using zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 (ZIF-67). The Co(OH)2–FeOOH/NF electrode

demonstrated outstanding OER performance, primarily due to the synergistic interaction between Co(OH)2 and FeOOH.

When applied to an anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer (AEM electrolyzer), the system achieved a hydrogen

production efficiency of 46.7 kWh kg−

H2, highlighting the strong potential of Co(OH)2–FeOOH/NF as a cost-effective and

efficient alternative to conventional PGM-based OER electrode.

Keywords

Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis · Metal Organic Framework · Sacrificial Template · Oxygen Evolution Reaction · Heterostructure · Water Splitting