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Cobalt boride which is an active bifunctional water splitting catalyst in alkaline media shows poor activity in neutral media. We found that trace ruthenium (Ru) cluster deposition (80 μg·cm

Plasma-enhanced catalytic biogas reforming for hydrogen-rich syngas production over a Ni-K/Al2O3 catalyst was investigated using a tabular dielectric barrier discharge non-thermal plasma reactor. To better understand the plasma catalysis synergy at elevated temperatures, we compared different reaction modes: plasma catalysis, plasma alone, and catalysis alone in a reaction temperature range of 160-400 °C. The combination of Ni-K/Al2O3 and plasma produced synergistic effects. Notably, the plasma-catalytic synergy was temperature-dependent and varied at different reaction temperatures. Using plasma catalysis, the maximum conversion of CH4 and CO2 (31.6% and 22.8%, respectively) was attained over Ni-K/Al2O3 at 160 °C, while increasing the reaction temperature to 340 °C noticeably enhanced the H2/CO ratio to 2.71. Moreover, compared to plasma-catalytic biogas reforming at 160 °C, increasing the reaction temperature to 400 °C suppressed biogas conversion with dramatically reduced coke formation on the Ni–K/Al2O3 surface from 6.81 wt% to 3.37 wt%.

Highlights SiO2-mediated ZIF-L is developed to prepare Co–N4@2D/3D carbon.Co–N4@2D/3D integrates the advantages of 0D Co single atom and 2D/3D carbon support.Co–N4@2D/3D carbon-based sulfur cathode enables a high reversible specific capacity and low capacity fading rate. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40820-021-00676-6., The practical application of lithium–sulfur batteries is severely hampered by the poor conductivity, polysulfide shuttle effect and sluggish reaction kinetics of sulfur cathodes. Herein, a hierarchically porous three-dimension (3D) carbon architecture assembled by cross-linked carbon leaves with implanted atomic Co–N4 has been delicately developed as an advanced sulfur host through a SiO2-mediated zeolitic imidazolate framework-L (ZIF-L) strategy. The unique 3D architectures not only provide a highly conductive network for fast electron transfer and buffer the volume change upon lithiation–delithiation process but also endow rich interface with full exposure of Co–N4 active sites to boost the lithium polysulfides adsorption and conversion. Owing to the accelerated kinetics and suppressed shuttle effect, the as-prepared sulfur cathode exhibits a superior electrochemical performance with a high reversible specific capacity of 695 mAh g−1 at 5 C and a low capacity fading rate of 0.053% per cycle over 500 cycles at 1 C. This work may provide a promising solution for the design of an advanced sulfur-based cathode toward high-performance Li–S batteries. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40820-021-00676-6.

Transition metal nitrides are of great interest as potential anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their high theoretical capacity. However, poor cycling stability and rate performance greatly hinder their practical applications. To better alleviate these problems, a unique 3D hierarchical nanocomposite constructed by dual carbon-coated Co5.47N nano-grains wrapped with carbon and reduced graphene oxide (Co5.47N@C@rGO) was synthesized through one-step simultaneous nitridation and carbonization of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks@GO precursor. The 3D hierarchical Co5.47N@C@rGO composite can combine the good conductivity and mechanical strength of rGO and a high theoretical capacity of Co5.47N. When explored as anode material for LIBs, Co5.47N@C@rGO exhibits a high reversible capacity of ~860 mAh g−1 at a current density of 1.0 A g−1 after 500 cycles and excellent high-rate capability (665 and 573 mAh g−1 at current densities of 3.2 and 6.4 A g−1, respectively). The excellent electrochemical performance of Co5.47N@C@rGO can be ascribed to its hierarchically porous structure and the synergistic effect between Co5.47N nano-grains and rGO.

A transition metal (TM) coupled with the N-doped carbon (NC) nanocomposite has been regarded as an alternative electrocatalyst that shows Pt-comparable activity towards the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), but so far no examples of these have outperformed Pt in acidic, alkaline and neutral media due to the insufficient tuning of the intrinsic catalytic activity. Herein, we report an interfacial engineered VN/Co–NC electrocatalyst that can achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at overpotentials of only 44, 22 and 163 mV in 1.0 M KOH, 0.5 M H2SO4 and 1.0 M PBS solutions, respectively, which are not only superior to previously reported TM–NC examples but also surpass the commercial Pt@C catalyst. More inspiringly, the highly catalytic activity could be maintained for more than 72 h over a wide pH range. Density functional theory computations and synchrotron-based X-ray absorption fine structure investigations reveal that the exceptional catalytic performance can be traced mainly to the well-defined VN/Co heterointerfaces which have a suitable lattice mismatch, allowing the electron depletion of Co–NC via the charge pumping effect of VN and thus the optimization of adsorption free energy for hydrogen-intermediates.

The rational design of high-performance electrocatalysts with multiple functions based on earth-abundant elements for energy storage and conversion devices is highly demanded but remains a significant challenge. Herein, porous bayberry-like architectures constructed from CoFe alloy nanoparticles encapsulated within nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs) were developed by a room-temperature coprecipitation procedure, followed by an annealing process under a nitrogen atmosphere. The synergistic coupling effect between the alloys and in situ formed N-CNTs within the architectures not only provided abundant active sites and accelerated electron/proton transfer but also effectively optimized the adsorption energy of the reaction intermediates. As a result, the as-developed CoFe@N-CNTs-800 exhibited an excellent trifunctional electrocatalytic activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reaction with overpotentials of 115 and 306 mV at 10 mA cm−2, respectively, as well as the oxygen reduction reaction with a half-wave potential of 0.847 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). As a proof-of-concept, CoFe@N-CNTs-800-assembled water splitting cells could drive a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at a voltage of 1.64 V, lower than that of the Pt/C‖IrO2/C couple (1.65 V). Furthermore, a CoFe@N-CNTs-800 air cathode-based zinc–air battery exhibited a very small charge–discharge voltage gap of 0.79 V (at 10 mA cm−2) and a high energy density of 938.1 mW h g−1.

Engineering non-precious transition metal (TM)-based electrocatalysts to simultaneously achieve an optimal intrinsic activity, high density of active sites, and rapid mass transfer ability for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) remains a significant challenge. To address this challenge, a hybrid composite consisting of Fe

The exploration of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with good biocompatibility and physiological stability as carrier platforms for biomedical applications is of great importance but remains challenging. Herein, we developed an in situ biomimetic mineralization strategy on zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) nanocrystals to construct a drug release system with favorable cytocompatibility, improved stability, and pH responsiveness. With lysozyme (Lys) wrapped on the surface of Zn-based ZIF (ZIF-8), Lys/ZIF-8 could strongly bond metal ions to promote nucleation and growth of bone-like hydroxyapatite (HAp), leading to formation of HAp@Lys/ZIF-8 composites. In vitro investigations indicate that the composites with a hollow Lys/ZIF-8 core and a HAp shell exhibited a high drug-loading efficiency (56.5%), smart pH-responsive drug delivery, cytocompatibility, and stability under physiological conditions. The proposed biomimetic mineralization strategy for designing MOFs-based composites may open a new avenue to construct advanced delivery systems in the biomedical field.

Construction of well-defined hybrid composites consisting of transition metal sulfides and two-dimensional (2D) carbon nanosheets as high-performance anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is of great significance but remains challenging. Herein, we have developed a novel strategy to in-situ fabricate a nanohybrid composites consisting of cobalt-doped copper sulfides nanoparticles embedded in 2D carbon nanosheets (2D Co-Cu2S@C) through a one-pot sulfurization of 2D nanosheet-like Co-doped copper-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) precursors. When applied as LIBs anodes, the as-prepared 2D Co-Cu2S@C composites could deliver a specific capacity of 780 mAh g-1 at 0.5 A g-1 after 300 cycles and a high-rate capability with 209 mAh g-1 at 5 A g-1, superior to most reported copper sulfide-based anodes. The exceptional performance could be attributed to the synergism of ultrathin structure (~4 nm), appropriate cobalt doping and strong carbon coupling, resulting in the shortened paths for Li+ transportation, enlarged exposing surface for Li+ adsorption, enhanced electric conductivity for charge transfer as well as robust mechanical property against volume expansion.

Searching for inexpensive, efficient and durable electrocatalysts with earth-abundant elements toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is of vital importance for the future sustainable hydrogen economy, yet still remains a formidable challenge. Herein, a facile template-engaged strategy is demonstrated for the direct in-situ growth of Ni nanoparticles and N-doped carbon nanotubes on carbon nanorod substrates, forming a hierarchically branched architecture (abbreviated as Ni@N-C NT/NRs hereafter). The elaborate construction of such unique hierarchical structure with tightly encapsulated Ni nanoparticles and open configuration endows the as-fabricated Ni@N-C NT/NRs with abundant well-dispersed active sites, enlarged surface area, reduced resistances of charge transfer and mass diffusion, and reinforced mechanical robustness. As a consequence, the optimal Ni@N-C NT/NR catalyst demonstrates superior electrocatalytic activity with relatively low overpotential of 134 mV to deliver a current density of 10 mA·cm−2 and excellent stability for HER in 0.1 M KOH, holding a great promise for practical scalable H2 production. More importantly, this work offers a reliable methodology for feasible fabrication of robust high-performance carbon-based hierarchical architectures for a variety of electrochemical applications.

The development of efficient and cost-effective catalytic electrodes is of great importance to electrolysis. Herein, a strategy of fabricating practical catalytic electrodes by depositing conductive catalysts on inexpensive and easily accessible insulating substrates of paper, textiles and sponge has been realized and well developed. These electrodes are found to be highly active toward overall water splitting. As a distinctive example, the Ni–P–B/paper electrode affords 50 mA cm−2 at overpotentials of only 76 mV for the hydrogen evolution reaction and 263 mV for the oxygen evolution reaction, and can survive at large current density of 1000 mA cm−2 for over 240 h without apparent performance degradation in 1.0 M KOH. A two-electrode cell constructed by this paper electrode, which is only 1/5 the weight of a traditional metal electrode, delivered 50 mA cm−2 water-splitting current at a cell voltage of only 1.661 V, rivalling the integrated state-of-the-art Pt–C/Ni and IrO2/Ni electrode. Moreover, a functional Ni–P–B/paper ring electrode with in situ separation function has been constructed, enabling simultaneous generation, separation and collection of hydrogen and oxygen. This discovery may enable a large extension toward practical catalytic electrodes that are also active, cheap, light, flexible, earth-abundant and recyclable.

Developing a multifunctional electrocatalyst with eminent activity, strong durability, and cheapness for the hydrogen/oxygen evolution reaction (HER/OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is crit...

The development of nonprecious, highly active and robust bifunctional electrocatalysts for both hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions via water splitting is of primary significance, but still remains challenging. Herein, we develop a three-dimension (3D) heterostructured catalyst (Ni0.82Co0.18O@C/NF) by coupling of ultrathin Co-doped NiO (Ni0.82Co0.18O) nanosheets and carbon on nickel foam (NF) with synergism of geometric engineering and electronic modulation. Benefiting from the unique 3D configuration, highly exposed active sites and the synergistic effect of the active Ni0.82Co0.18O and the carbon, the catalyst exhibits exceptional hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance with low overpotentials and Tafel slopes and excellent stability in alkaline media. Specifically, the Ni0.82Co0.18O@C/NF employed as catalyst for both anode and cathode enables an alkaline electrolyzer to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2 by a cell voltage of only 1.42 V, which is not only much lower than that of the integrated performance of the commercial noble Pt/C and IrO2/C catalyst couple (∼1.61 V), but also superior to most reported results to date. Our finding may provide a new opportunity to design advanced bifunctional catalysts toward practical overall water splitting.

Rod-like porous composites of iron sulfides embedded in nitrogen-rich carbon have been synthesized through a simultaneous carbonization and sulfuration process of the Fe-based metal-organic framework (MIL-88) for the first time. The composites exhibit combined advantages of the porous structure, uniform distribution of iron sulfide nanoparticles and increased conductivity. As an anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the composites show a high reversible capacity of 936.3 mAh g−1 after 300 cycles and an exceptional high-rate capability (1128, 1056, 989, 912, 841 mAh g−1 at the current densities of 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, and 1.6 A g−1, respectively). The results indicate that the composites could be a promising candidate for anode materials in LIBs.

Transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs) have been investigated as promising anodes for high-performance lithium-ion batteries, but they usually suffer from poor conductivity and large volume variation, thus leading to unsatisfactory performance. Although nanostructure engineering and hybridization with conductive materials have been proposed to address this concern, a better performance toward practical device applications is still highly desired. Herein, we report an iron-doping-induced structural phase transition from pyrite-type (cubic) to marcasite-type (orthorhombic) phases in porous carbon/rGO-coupled CoSe2. The dual-carbon-confined orthorhombic CoSe2 ( o-Fe xCo1- xSe2@NC@rGO) composites exhibit dramatically enhanced lithium storage performance (920 mAh g-1 after 1000 cycles at 1.0 A g-1) over cubic CoSe2-based composites ( c-CoSe2@NC@rGO). The combined experimental studies and density functional theory calculations reveal that this doping-induced structural phase transformation strategy could create a favorable electronic structure and ensure a rapid charge transfer. These results demonstrate that the phase-transformation engineering may provide another opportunity in the design of high-performance TMC-based electrodes.

Currently, the magnetic metal based electromagnetic wave absorber have attracted extensively interest. However, how to control the high conductivity of magnetic metals and achieve good impedance matching of electromagnetic absorbing materials made by them have become a big problem at present. Herein, amorphous FeB nanoparticles were rationally synthesized by a wet method, which involves a simple three-step solution reaction. The obtained products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Benefiting from their amorphous structure, the resulting FeB nanoparticles show good magnetic properties, dielectric losses and proper impedance matching, thus good microwave attenuation ability can be achieved in the low frequency range. The maximum reflection loss is −15 dB at 3.5 GHz with a thickness of 8 mm which can be mainly attributed to its excellent impedance matching in the frequency range of 2.5–4.5 GHz. These amorphous FeB alloy nanoparticles are expected to be promising candidates for efficient microwave absorbers in the S band.

Transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs) have attracted considerable interest owing to their satisfied theoretical capacity, good safety and environmentally benign nature in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, the poor conductivity as well as the severe volume changes during the discharge-charge process cause capacity fading rapidly, which severely impede the practical applications of TMCs. To address this challenge, a hollow hybrid architecture assembled by NixCo1-xSe2 nanosheets and strongly coupled porous carbon have been rational designed. Within this structure, the integration of nanosheets rooted on the surface of porous carbon not only provide three-dimensional conductive network but also offer plentiful pathways and active sites for electrolyte penetration and Li storage, and buffer a large volume expansion/contraction caused by lithium intercalation/deintercalation. As evidenced by electrochemical measurements, the NixCo1-xSe2/C composites used as anodes in LIBs exhibit a superior reversible high capacity of 1667 mA h g−1 at current density of 2.0 A g−1 over 600 cycles and an outstanding rate capability (1580 and 1093 mA h g−1 at 3.2 and 6.4 A g−1, respectively).

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/Indium tin oxide (ITO) composites have been successfully synthesized via coprecipitation and calcination processes. The effects of calcination temperature on the electromagnetic properties of the CNTs/ITO composites were investigated. The real part of the permittivity and the dielectric loss increase with increasing calcination temperature, which can be attributed to the enhanced dielectric relaxation and space charge polarization. The CNTs/ITO composites synthesized at 600 °C can achieve lower reflection loss (RL) value at the thickness of 2–4 mm, while the composites synthesized at 850 °C exhibit broader bandwidth, corresponding to an RL value below −10 dB at a thin coating thickness of 1–1.5 mm. The microwave absorption properties of the CNTs/ITO composites at different frequencies can be tuned by controlling the calcination temperature and the thickness of the absorbing coating. The dielectric loss, quarter-wavelength cancellation, and well-matched characteristic impedance in the air-absorber interface are believed to contribute to the superior microwave absorption performance of the composites. The effects of the secondary phase ITO on the electromagnetic properties of the CNTs/ITO composites were also discussed in this study.

Metal sulfides are regarded as promising anode materials for developing high-performance lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to their high theoretical specific capacity and intrinsic safety. However, poor electrical conductivity and drastic volume change during lithiation hamper their practical application. This study reports the synthesis of hollow cube-like composites consisting of heterostructured MnS/Co1−xS nanoparticles embedded in electrically conductive carbon@reduced graphene oxide (MnS/Co1−xS@C@rGO) obtained from a GO-coated mixed metal-cyanide coordination polymer precursor. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of different components and the unique hierarchically hollow architecture, the MnS/Co1−xS@C@rGO-600 composites evaluated as anode materials exhibited a high reversible capacity of 1018 mA h g−1 after 500 cycles at a current density of 1 A g−1 and 723 mA h g−1 after 1000 cycles at a high current density of 5 A g−1. The combination of the convenient synthesis strategy and excellent lithium storage performance makes MnS/Co1−xS@C@rGO-600 composites a promising anode material for high-performance LIBs.

An overall water splitting device assembled using a photothermal effect coupled Ni–W–B/carbon cloth electrode could deliver a current density of 25 mA cm−2 at an ultralow cell voltage of 1.524 V without heating the whole system, which is comparable to its performance at an elevated cell temperature of 50 °C.

Discarded cigarette filters mainly composed of cellulose acetate (CA) are non-biodegradable and can cause a severe environmental pollution hazard. In an effort to turn waste into wealth, herein, we explore hierarchically porous carbon@graphene composites derived from cigarette filters as efficient cathode hosts for lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. The hierarchical porous structure enables high sulfur loading and confines the dissolution of lithium polysulfides while the strongly coupled graphene provides an electrically conductive network for electrons to transfer within the composites. Accordingly, the cigarette filter-derived porous carbon@graphene-based cathode containing 78 wt% sulfur could achieve a high capacity of 1010 mA h g−1 at 0.2C after 200 cycles and even 722 mA h g−1 at 0.5C over 1000 cycles with only ∼0.04% capacity loss per cycle. The findings may open a new trash-to-treasure avenue for the development of high-performance electrode materials in energy storage devices.

Developing an efficient and non-precious pH-universal hydrogen evolution reaction electrocatalyst is highly desirable for hydrogen production by electrochemical water splitting but remains a significant challenge. Herein, a hierarchical structure composed of heterostructured Ni

Silicon-based anodes are of particular interest for the application of next generation large-capacity lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) because of their natural abundance and ultrahigh theoretical lithi...

Transition metal oxides are being actively pursued as low-cost electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in many electrochemical energy devices. A fundamental understanding of the oxide electronic structures, along with the ability to rationally tune them, is a key step toward designing of highly active catalysts. Here, we report the tuning of the electronic structure of NiO via Li doping (LixNi1–xO) to enhance the OER activities. We identified that Li0.5Ni0.5O (LiNiO2) has the highest OER activity, comparable to or exceeding that of the benchmark perovskite Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3−δ and LaNiO3. More importantly, a synergistic combination of synchrotron-based photoemission spectroscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and density functional theory was used to unravel the electronic structure of LixNi1–xO with unprecedented accuracy, thus providing deep insight into the origin of the enhanced catalytic activity. The results unambiguously reveal the creation of a new hole state at 1.1 eV above the Fermi level and an enhanced degree of O 2p–Ni 3d hybridization induced by Li doping optimize the adsorption energetics of OH intermediates and thereby facilitate the fast kinetics for the OER. The LixNi1–xO would serve as a new platform to study the relationship of composition–electronic structure–activity for OER electrocatalysts, beyond the extensively studied Co-based perovskites.

Transition metal nitrides are of great interest as potential anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their high theoretical capacity. However, poor cycling stability and rate performance greatly hinder their practical applications. To better alleviate these problems, a unique 3D hierarchical nanocomposite constructed by dual carbon-coated Co

Transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) hold great potential as an advanced electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), but to date the activity of transition metal telluride catalysts are demonstrated to be poor for this reaction. In this study, we report the activation of CoTe

Developing an ultimate electromagnetic (EM)-absorbing material that can not only dissipate EM energy but also convert the generated heat into electricity is highly desired but remains a significant challenge. Here, we report a hybrid Sn@C composite with a biological cell-like splitting ability to address this challenge. The composite consisting of Sn nanoparticles embedded within porous carbon would split under a cycled annealing treatment, leading to more dispersed nanoparticles with an ultrasmall size. Benefiting from an electron-transmitting but a phonon-blocking structure created by the splitting behavior, an EM wave-electricity device constructed by the optimum Sn@C composite could achieve an efficiency of EM to heat at widely used frequency region and a maximum thermoelectric figure of merit of 0.62 at 473 K, as well as a constant output voltage and power under the condition of microwave radiation. This work provides a promising solution for solving EM interference with self-powered EM devices., Materials that can harvest electromagnetic (EM) waves and harness the resulting energy would have many applications. Here, the authors present a hybrid composite that produces thermoelectricity from the heating in the EM absorption under microwave radiation.

Developing a multifunctional electrocatalyst with eminent activity, strong durability, and cheapness for the hydrogen/oxygen evolution reaction (HER/OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is critical to overall water splitting and regenerative fuel cells. Herein, a nitrogen-doped nanonetwork assembled by porous and defective NiCo

The design of efficient and nonprecious electrocatalysts towards oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is extremely essential for a wide range of renewable energy technologies but remains a grand challenge. Herein, a novel hybrid composite constructed from Co9S8/Co-doped ZnS (Zn0.8Co0.2S) nanorods with the atomic-level coupled nanointerface rooted in porous carbon polyhedra (Co9S8/Zn0.8Co0.2S@C) have been fabricated and investigated as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for OER. The composite catalyst can afford a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at a low overpotential of only 292 mV and a small Tafel slope of ∼52 mV decade−1, which are superior to the state-of-the-art IrO2/C and most reported Co-based catalysts. Experimental and computational studies reveal an electronic coupling between Co9S8 and Zn0.8Co0.2S that can facilitate the electron injection from the electrode and transport to the active site, and thus generates a favorable local coordination environment and greatly enhances the OER process.

Hybrid nanocomposites consisting of non-precious transition-metal oxides/chalcogenides and a carbon matrix are of great interest for future applications in sustainable energy storage and conversion systems owing to their unique chemical and physical properties as well as the synergism. However, the construction of nanocomposites with tunable coupling effects to realize synergetic effects and optimal performance remains challenging. Herein, we develop a facile strategy for the synthesis of cobalt sulfide (Co9S8) nanoparticles encapsulated in the carbon matrix from a Prussian blue analogue (PBA) through a simultaneous sulfidation and carbonization process. With an increase in the degree of carbonization, the coordinated organic ligands (CN) liberated from the PBA can be evolved as N-doped amorphous carbon (N-AC), N-doped graphitic carbon (N-GC) and N-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs), respectively, generating the tunable electronic coupling between the Co9S8 and the carbon matrix. As an example, we show that the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity of such nanocomposites can be made comparable to the state-of-the-art catalytic properties of precious catalysts by optimizing the electronic coupling between the components so that electron injection from the N-doped carbon to the catalytically active site is greatly facilitated. Furthermore, the in situ formation of cobalt hydroxides on the surface of Co9S8 is also confirmed during the OER process, which might induce the interfacial effect, i.e. electron interplay, thus altering the OER catalytic activity. The current work provides new insights into the rational design of advanced hybrid nanocomposites for energy and environmental applications.