Stabilizing Amorphous Cobalt Nanoclusters Within Polyaniline Toward Trifunctional Electrocatalysis of HER, OER, and ORR

ABSTRACT Development of efficient, cost‐effective, and multifunctional electrocatalysts is the key focus in renewable energy research. Cobalt‐based electrocatalysts are widely used in the electrochemical HER, OER, and ORR. In this study, we report a novel multifunctional electrocatalyst composed of polyaniline (PANI) decorated with cobalt nanoclusters, synthesized via a simple solvothermal method. The uniform distribution of amorphous cobalt nanoclusters within the PANI matrix provides abundant active sites, high electrical conductivity, and high surface area, resulting in excellent trifunctional electrocatalytic activity. The Co60@PANI catalyst exhibits a high half‐wave potential of 0.74 V versus RHE and limiting current density of −4.82 mA cm −2 in 0.1 M KOH for the ORR. The catalysts also achieve low overpotentials of 292 and 320 mV at 10 mA/cm 2 for HER and OER, respectively, in 1 M KOH. This finding provides a foundation for the development of highly efficient and multifunctional electrocatalysts toward energy conversion processes.