Abstract Synthesis of a robust and bifunctional catalyst with earth-abundant element efficient for electrocatalytic reduction and oxidation is crucial in electrocatalytic energy conversion and storage. Herein we show that a facile method to synthesize CuFe2O4 crystals with octahedral shape as a bifunctional catalyst efficient for water oxidation and H2O2 reduction. These as-obtained CuFe2O4 catalysts exhibited high-performance for water oxidation (2.2 times current density higher than that of commercial RuO2), lower Tafel slope (∼50 mV dec−1), larger anodic current density and much enhanced electrochemical durability. Besides, the resulted CuFe2O4 catalyst was also efficient for electrocatalytic H2O2 reduction, it shows 5-fold increment of current density in the presence of 5 mM H2O2, high sensitivity and much improved stability. The cost-effective synthesis route holds great promise for the controllable synthesis of nanostructured spinel, and is expected to show promising applications in the generation of renewable energy.

中文翻译：

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轻松合成对水氧化和 H 2 O 2 还原有效的 CuFe 2 O 4 晶体

摘要 合成一种具有地球丰富元素的稳健双功能催化剂，可有效地进行电催化还原和氧化，对于电催化能量转换和存储至关重要。在这里，我们展示了一种合成八面体形状的 CuFe2O4 晶体作为双功能催化剂的简便方法，可有效地进行水氧化和 H2O2 还原。这些获得的 CuFe2O4 催化剂表现出高性能的水氧化（电流密度比商业 RuO2 高 2.2 倍）、更低的塔菲尔斜率（~50 mV dec-1）、更大的阳极电流密度和大大增强的电化学耐久性。此外，所得的 CuFe2O4 催化剂对于电催化 H2O2 还原也很有效，在 5 mM H2O2 存在下电流密度增加 5 倍，灵敏度高，稳定性大大提高。