S-N Co-doped Carbon-Inducing Electronic Rearrangement in NiFe₂O₄ for Enhanced Oxygen Evolution Reaction Kinetics

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Catalysis

Background:

• Inverse spinel NiFe2O4 suffers from poor conductivity and stability in oxygen evolution reaction (OER).
• Developing efficient and stable electrocatalysts is crucial for OER applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize a porous NiFe2O4/SNC composite for enhanced OER performance.
• To investigate the synergistic effects of S-N co-doped carbon support on NiFe2O4 catalyst properties.

Main Methods:

• One-step pyrolysis method for synthesizing the NiFe2O4/SNC composite.
• Electrochemical characterization including chronopotentiometry and overpotential measurements.
• In situ Raman/Bode analysis and density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

Main Results:

• The NiFe2O4/SNC composite achieved an overpotential of 212 mV at 10 mA cm-2.
• Demonstrated remarkable stability with only 2.3% potential decay after 175 h at 100 mA cm-2.
• Porous structure, N-doping, and S-doping synergistically enhanced conductivity, mass transfer, and electronic properties.

Conclusions:

• The porous NiFe2O4/SNC composite is a highly efficient and stable electrocatalyst for OER.
• Synergistic effects of the S-N co-doped carbon support are key to the catalyst's superior performance.
• The study provides valuable insights for designing advanced OER catalysts.