Unlocking Fe(III) Ions Improving Oxygen Evolution Reaction Activity and Dynamic Stability of Anodized Nickel Foam

Fe has been reported to play a crucial role in improving the catalytic activity and stability of Ni/Co-based electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), while the Fe effect remains intangible. Here, we design several experiments to identify the activity and stability improvement using porous anodized nickel foam (ANF) as the electrode and 1.0 M KOH containing 1000 μM Fe(III) ions as the electrolyte. Systematic investigations reveal that Ni sites serve as hosts to capture Fe ions to create active FeNi-based intermediates on the surface of ANF to improve the OER activity significantly, and Fe ions regulate catalytic equilibrium and maintain the stability for a long time. The system exhibits 242 and 343 mV overpotentials to reach 10 and 1000 mA cm^-2 current densities and a robust stability of 360 h at an industrially suitable current density (1000 mA cm^-2). This work expands insights into the Fe(III) catalysis effect on the OER efficiency of Ni-based catalysts and provides an economical and practical way to commercial application.