Ultrafast Formation of Amorphous Bimetallic Hydroxide Films on 3D Conductive Sulfide Nanoarrays for Large‐Current‐Density Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalysis

Abstract

Developing nonprecious oxygen evolution electrocatalysts that can work well at large current densities is of primary importance in a viable water-splitting technology. Herein, a facile ultrafast (5 s) synthetic approach is reported that produces a novel, efficient, non-noble metal oxygen-evolution nano-electrocatalyst that is composed of amorphous Ni-Fe bimetallic hydroxide film-coated, nickel foam (NF)-supported, Ni₃ S₂ nanosheet arrays. The composite nanomaterial (denoted as Ni-Fe-OH@Ni₃ S₂ /NF) shows highly efficient electrocatalytic activity toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at large current densities, even in the order of 1000 mA cm^-2 . Ni-Fe-OH@Ni₃ S₂ /NF also gives an excellent catalytic stability toward OER both in 1 m KOH solution and in 30 wt% KOH solution. Further experimental results indicate that the effective integration of high catalytic reactivity, high structural stability, and high electronic conductivity into a single material system makes Ni-Fe-OH@Ni₃ S₂ /NF a remarkable catalytic ability for OER at large current densities.