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Updated: Jul 25, 2025

Synthesis of Metal Nanoparticles Supported on Carbon Nanotube with Doped Co and N Atoms and its Catalytic Applications in Hydrogen Production
Published on: December 6, 2021
A low-content CeO dually promoted Ni3Fe@CNT electrocatalyst for overall water splitting
Mingqi Sun1, Shuai Zhang1, Yaru Li1
1State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China. xusl@buct.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Rational construction of low-cost and high-performance electrocatalysts for water splitting is crucial for the advancement of renewable hydrogen fuel. Hybridizing heterojunctions or noble metals is one typical strategy used to boost the electrocatalytic performance for either the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) or hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here, low-content CeO (3.74 wt%) is introduced into Ni3Fe nanoparticle-encapsulated carbon nanotubes (Ni3Fe@CNTs/CeO), with both the OER and HER activities boosted, as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting. The composite is derived by pyrolyzing a mixture of melamine/ternary NiFeCe-layered double hydroxide. The composite electrocatalyst requires low overpotentials of 195 and 125 mV at 10 mA cm-2 in 1.0 M KOH, respectively, which are superior to those of Ni3Fe@CNTs/NF (313 and 139 mV) and CeO/NF (345 and 129 mV), and in particular, OER overpotentials of 320 and 370 mV at 50 and 100 mA cm-2, respectively. Moreover, the composite-assembled electrolyzer for overall water splitting requires a current density of 10 mA cm-2 at a decent cell voltage of 1.641 V. Furthermore, the enhancement is elucidated by the synergistic effect: the dual role of CeO in boosting the OER and HER, the highly conductive carbonaceous CNTs, large electrochemically active surface area and low charge-transfer resistance. The results can offer an effective route for designing and preparing low-cost and high-efficiency electrocatalysts for electrocatalytic water splitting.
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