Nickel oxide nanoparticles dispersed on biomass–derived amorphous carbon/cobalt silicate support accelerate the oxygen evolution reaction

[Display omitted] •NiOx/C/CoSi is developed as a potential non–noble–metal–based OER catalyst.•The introduction of NiOx can greatly boost the OER property of C/CoSi support.•3D NiOx/C/CoSi catalyst achieves the η of 355 mV at 10 mA cm−2.•Geometric effect and bimetal component effect are accounted for boosted property. The development of robust, low–cost and efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts, especially non–noble–metal–based OER catalysts, is of great significance and imperative to address the energy crisis, but remain challenging. Herein, a biomass–derived three–dimensional (3D) porous carbon/cobalt silicate (C/Co2SiO4) architecture is developed as a support for loading nickel oxide (NiOx) species to prepare an earth–abundant and non–noble–metal–based NiOx/C/Co2SiO4 electrocatalyst. The NiOx nanoparticles are dispersed on 3D C/Co2SiO4 support and the introduction of NiOx species improves the OER active sites and shows the bimetal (Co, Ni) synergetic effect. The NiOx/C/Co2SiO4 electrocatalyst exhibits the overpotential with 355 mV at 10 mA cm−2, Tafel slope with 40 mV dec−1 and large electrochemical active surface areas (ECSA), which are superior to C/Co2SiO4 support and NiOx. The catalytic properties achieved herein are superior or comparable to most transition metal oxides/hydroxides. The findings reveal that the introduction of NiOx nanoparticles can greatly boost the OER property of C/Co2SiO4 support. This work not only develops a non–noble–metal–based NiOx/C/Co2SiO4 catalyst, but also verifies that the introduction of metal oxide species on biomass–derived 3D C/Co2SiO4 provides a new horizon to explore economical, high–efficient and robust OER catalysts.