Ni_0.67Fe_0.33 Hydroxide Incorporated with Oxalate for Highly Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

As the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) imposes a high energy barrier during electrochemical water splitting, designing highly efficient, stable, and cost-effective electrocatalysts for OERs is an ongoing challenge. In this study, we present a facile approach to prepare villi-shaped Ni-Fe hydroxides incorporated with oxalate derived from Ni-Fe oxalate through the <i>in situ</i> precipitation growth and subsequent immersion in an alkaline solution. The electrode with an optimized Ni-Fe ratio improves the OER kinetics, on which the electronic structure of the active site is adjusted based on a mutual effect between the adjacent nickel and iron atoms. The OER performance was significantly better than that of monometallic Ni(OH)₂ and pristine Ni foam, with a low overpotential of 277 mV at 100 mA cm^-2 and excellent stability. The enhanced OER performance is ascribed to the advanced intrinsic electrocatalytic activity of the electrode as a result of the synergetic effect of optimized Ni-Fe ratio mixing at the atomic level which leads to an increased surface area, a high number of active sites, and a reduced charge transfer resistivity.