NiFe-based electrocatalyst anchored on nanocone with tip-field effect for improved oxygen evolution reaction

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Catalysis

Background:

• Efficient oxygen evolution electrocatalysts are crucial for water splitting reactions.
• Developing catalysts with enhanced kinetics and stability is a key challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To fabricate and evaluate an efficient cone-structured NiFe-LDH/Nicone/Ti catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER).
• To investigate the role of nanocone structure in accelerating OER kinetics and improving catalyst performance.

Main Methods:

• Electrocatalyst fabrication using electrodeposition.
• Characterization of the catalyst's structure and performance for OER.
• Testing the catalyst in an alkaline electrolyzer for water splitting.

Main Results:

• The cone-structured NiFe-LDH/Nicone/Ti catalyst exhibits enhanced OER activity.
• A low overpotential of 292 mV was required to achieve 50 mA cm^-2.
• The catalyst demonstrated high stability during continuous high-current operations and long-term tests.
• The alkaline electrolyzer using this electrode showed good performance (1.73 V at 50 mA cm^-2).

Conclusions:

• The cone-structured catalyst design effectively enhances OER performance through field-enhanced local hydroxide ion aggregation.
• This approach offers a promising strategy for developing highly active and stable electrocatalysts for water splitting.