In-situ revealed inhibition of W2C to excessive oxidation of CoOOH for high-efficiency alkaline overall water splitting.

[Display omitted] The design of low-cost, efficient, and stable multifunctional basic catalysts to replace the high-cost noble metal catalysts remains a challenge. In this work, we report a dual-component Co-W 2 C catalytic system which achieves excellent properties of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER, η 10 = 63 mV), oxygen evolution reaction (OER, η 10 = 259 mV) and overall water splitting (η 10 = 1.53 V) by adjusting the interfacial electronic structure of the material. Further density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that the efficient electronic modulation at the W 2 C/Co interface leads to the generation of favorable hydroxyl and hydrogen species energetics on the hybrid surface. The results of the in-situ Raman spectra show that W 2 C can suppress the excessive oxidation of the active site during the OER process, and the existence of core–shell structure also protects the W 2 C substrate. The stable and efficient catalytic performance of Co-W 2 C is attributed to the common advantages of structural and interface manipulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]