In situ growth Fe and V co-doped Ni3S2 for efficient oxygen evolution reaction at large current densities

• Published in: International journal of hydrogen energy 2022-04, Vol.47 (32), p.14422-14431
• Main Authors: Liu, Leran, Zhang, Yijie, Wang, Jinwei, Yao, Rui, Wu, Yun, Zhao, Qiang, Li, Jinping, Liu, Guang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Fe and V co-Doped Ni3S2; High current densities; In situ synthesis; Oxygen evolution reaction; Surface reconstruction
• ISSN: 0360-3199; 1879-3487
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2022.02.211

Industrial electrolysis of water is one of the effective strategies for green hydrogen production in the future. Nevertheless, the large-scale applications of water electrolysis are still intractable issues hindered by the high overpotentials and inferior reaction kinetics on the anode. Herein, a facile one-step hydrothermal method was applied to in situ growth the Fe and V co-doped Ni3S2 electrocatalyst on nickel foam substrate (Fe, V–Ni3S2/NF). In 1 M KOH electrolyte, the as-prepared Fe, V–Ni3S2/NF electrode exhibited an improved water oxidation activity with ultralow overpotentials of 253 and 370 mV to realize large current densities of 100 and 1000 mA/cm2, respectively. More importantly, the Fe, V–Ni3S2/NF electrode existed an activation process during 100 h chronopotentiometry testing period. Detailed characterizations revealed that elements of V and S in the electrocatalyst were oxidized and dissolved into the electrolyte, making the electrocatalyst undergo surface reconstruction and resulting in a faster kinetic reaction rate, thus leading to enhanced oxygen evolution reaction activities. Collectively, the resultant Fe, V–Ni3S2/NF in this work provides new cogitation towards design and synthesis of low-cost electrocatalyst with large current densities for water oxidation. [Display omitted] •Fe,V–Ni3S2/NF electrode was hydrothermal prepared and used as OER electrocatalyst.•Ni3S2 is converted to NiOOH during the electrochemical oxidation process.•The electrode can attain 100 and 1000 mA/cm2 with overpotentials of 253 and 370 mV.•The enhanced OER activity owned to the surface reconstruction by V, S etching.