Competitive co-deposition regulation of uniform 0D-2D hybrid nanostructured trimetallic sulfide induced heterogeneous...

The creation of diverse heterogeneous interfaces is a key strategy for developing highly efficient electrocatalysts for the alkaline oxygen evolution reaction (OER). This paper reports an easy two-step synthesis of a trimetallic (NiCoFe) sulfide catalyst with a 0D-2D hybrid structure via a competitive co-deposition strategy. Unlike conventional hydrothermal or coprecipitation methods, this strategy enables the simultaneous formation of 0D nanoparticles and 2D nanosheets on carbon nanotubes (CNTs), achieving uniform dispersion and robust anchoring of the 0D nanoparticles on the 2D nanosheets, forming abundant and stable heterogeneous interfaces. This effectively prevents the agglomeration of 0D nanoparticles. Coupled with CNTs, an efficient electron transport network is established, significantly enhancing local charge transfer efficiency and intrinsic catalytic activity. The resulting catalyst exhibits an exceptionally low overpotential of 260 mV at 100 mA cm^-2 for the OER in alkaline media. When employed in an anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer (AEMWE), it demonstrates remarkable durability, operating stably for over 500 h at a high current density of 65 °C, 100 mA cm^-2 in 1 M KOH without performance decay. Using X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy, we demonstrated the electronic coupling mechanism at the interface between CNTs and the ternary metal sulfide. This work highlights the critical role of interface engineering and co-deposition competitive strategy in applications and preparation of 0D-2D sulfide catalysts, but also provides new insights into the rational design of advanced non-precious metal electrocatalysts.