NiFeCr Hydroxide Holey Nanosheet as Advanced Electrocatalyst for Water Oxidation

Abstract

By introducing chromium into a nickel–iron layered double hydroxide (LDH), a nickel iron chromium hydroxide nanomesh catalyst has been achieved on nickel foam substrate via electrodeposition followed by partial etching of chromium. The electrodeposited chromium acts as a sacrificial template to introduce holes in the LDH to increase the electrochemically active surface area, and the remaining chromium synergistically modulates the electronic structure of the composite. The obtained electrode shows extraordinary performance for oxygen evolution reaction and excellent electrochemical stability. The onset potential of the as-prepared electrode in 1 M KOH is only 1.43 V vs RHE, and the overpotential to achieve a high current density of 100 mA·cm –2 is only 255 mV, outperforming benchmark nonprecious NiFe hydroxide composite electrode in alkaline media.