Water oxidation catalyst having low overpotential for oxygen evolution reaction

A process for the synthesis of a water oxidation catalyst having composition ZnxCo(3-x)O4, for splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen gases, wherein x is selected from 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0, the process comprising the steps of:

• a) dissolving cobalt nitrate hexahydrate and zinc nitrate hexahydrate separately in solvent to afford solution of both;
• b) adding said both solutions to the solution of glycine in solvent followed by stirring to obtain a uniform solution, wherein the ratio of cobalt plus zinc nitrate or metal nitrate:glycine is in the range of 1:0.3 to 1:0.5;
• and
• c) evaporating the solution of step (b) at temperature in the range of 180 to 220° C. followed by burning the resulting thick mass to obtain a water oxidation catalyst.