The requirement for green and cost-effective hydrogen (H2) emphasize the need for the development of low-cost, high-performance oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts. Herein, a facile MOF-assisted synthetic path is used to design hollow heterostructured Zn-doped CuO/CuMn2O4 structures. At first, Zn/Mn/Cu-MOFs octahedrons precursor are produced through a fast cation-exchange reaction between bimetallic Mn/Cu-MOFs and Zn2+. Then, the as-prepared solid trimetallic Zn/Mn/Cu-MOFs octahedrons were converted to hollow Zn-doped CuO/CuMn2O4 particles at 500 °C at a flow rate of 2 °C/min. The hollow structure is formed during the calcination process, which may be due to this fact that the exterior diffusion rate of metal ions is quicker than that of O2 interior, which leads to the formation of internal hollow structures. The hollow Zn-doped CuO/CuMn2O4 nanostructures shows superb OER activity in alkaline media, which at a voltage as low as 1.42 V delivers current density of 50 mA cm−2. This superb activity can be due to the synergistic effect between tri elements with multiple structural defects and regulated electronic structure and unique 3D hollow porous structure that offers a highly accessible active centers, an effective electrolyte ions diffusion path, and an efficient release of O2 gas bubbles during OER process. These findings offer a new way to improve the OER capability of Cu based nanostructures toward highly efficient and low cost H2 production.
