Constructing highly efficient hybrid structured Ce-V2O5@PPy as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting.

To develop efficient and stable non-precious metal water electrolysis catalysts, this study successfully constructed Ce-doped V2O5 core-shell nanostructured materials coated with polypyrrole (Ce-V2O5@PPy) through hydrothermal synthesis combined with electrochemical deposition. Characterization results demonstrate that Ce doping effectively modulates the electronic states of V2O5, enlarges the lattice spacing, and induces oxygen vacancy formation, while PPy coating further enhances the material's conductivity and interfacial reaction kinetics. Electrochemical tests revealed that the optimized sample Ce-V2O5@PPy-2 exhibits excellent hydrogen evolution (HER) and oxygen evolution (OER) activity in alkaline electrolytes, with overpotentials of 121.9 mV and 281 mV at 10 mA cm-2 current density, respectively. As a bifunctional catalyst, the assembled water-splitting system achieves 10 mA cm-2 performance with only 1.62 V and maintains stability during 50 hours of testing. This study provides a novel strategy for designing high-performance, pH-agnostic non-precious metal electrocatalytic materials.