Carbon (graphitic) foam is a 3D porous, rigid and permeable material used for many applications due to its excellent electrical and thermal properties. In this study, coal tar pitch containing polyaromatic hydrocarbons has been used as precursor for preparation of carbon foam by sacrificial template method and graphitized carbon foam (GCF) was obtained by heat treatment at 2350 °C. The GCF was modified by growing multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) using chemical vapour deposition method and loaded with cobalt oxide nanoparticles (CoO) using simple chemical method. Different GCF based modified samples were tested for electrochemical performance as electrocatalyst for splitting of water. The best performing electrocatalyst was GCF decorated with MWCNTs and CoO nanoparticles (GCF-CNT-Co) which showed the current density of ∼10 mA/cm² at overpotential of ∼0.44 V/RHE which is comparable with the overpotential (0.33 V/RHE) for commercial benchmark Pt/C electrocatalyst. All coal tar pitch based GCF samples with different modifications showed excellent electrolytic stability for 5 h in 0.1 M KOH solution.

碳（石墨）泡沫是一种 3D 多孔、刚性和可渗透材料，由于其出色的电学和热学特性，可用于许多应用。在本研究中，以含多环芳烃的煤焦油沥青为前驱体，通过牺牲模板法制备碳泡沫，并通过在 2350 ℃下热处理获得石墨化碳泡沫 (GCF)。通过使用化学气相沉积方法生长多壁碳纳米管 (MWCNT) 并使用简单化学方法负载氧化钴纳米粒子 (CoO) 来修饰 GCF。测试了不同的基于 GCF 的改性样品作为用于分解水的电催化剂的电化学性能。性能最好的电催化剂是用 MWCNTs 和 CoO 纳米颗粒 (GCF-CNT-Co) 装饰的 GCF，其电流密度约为 10 mA/cm²在~0.44 V/RHE 的过电位下，这与商业基准 Pt/C 电催化剂的过电位 (0.33 V/RHE) 相当。所有具有不同改性的煤焦油沥青基 GCF 样品在 0.1 M KOH 溶液中表现出优异的电解稳定性 5 小时。