Loading of individual Se-doped Fe2O3-decorated Ni/NiO particles on carbon cloth: facile synthesis and efficient electrocatalysis for the oxygen evolution reaction

• Published in: Dalton transactions : an international journal of inorganic chemistry 2020-11, Vol.49 (44), p.15682-15692
• Main Authors: Sayyar Ali Shah, Zhu, Guoxing, Yuan, Aihua, Ullah, Nabi, Shen, Xiaoping, Khan, Habib, Xu, Keqiang, Wang, Xuyu, Yan, Xiufen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon; Carbon fibers; Cloth; Composite materials; Electrocatalysts; Nickel oxides; Oxygen evolution reactions; Substrates
• ISSN: 1477-9226; 1477-9234
• DOI: 10.1039/d0dt03094e

The synthesis of competitive, affordable and sustainable electrocatalysts via simple and scalable methods is highly desirable for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Usually, expensive, complex, time-consuming methods are applied to prepared suitable electrocatalysts for the OER. In contrast, a single-step thermal method is simple and inexpensive. Nickel and iron-based composite materials are potential candidates as OER catalysts. Accordingly, herein, Se-doped Fe2O3-decorated Ni/NiO particles on carbon cloth (Se-Fe2O3@Ni/NiO/CC) were synthesized via a facile and scalable one-step thermal method. The individual Se-Fe2O3@Ni/NiO particles were accommodated in holes in the carbon fibers of CC. The optimized Se-Fe2O3@Ni/NiO/CC-2 sample exhibited an outstanding OER performance with an overpotential of 205 mV at the current density 10 mA cm−2, small Tafel slope of 36 mV dec−1, and good stability in 1.0 M KOH electrolyte. The outstanding catalytic performance was mainly attributed to the heterointerfaces between Se-Fe2O3 and Se–Ni/NiO. Moreover, the accommodation of the Se-Fe2O3@Ni/NiO particles in the holes of CC restricted the aggregation of the particles, and CC provided a conductive substrate for the OER process. Thus, this work provides a simple, scalable and effective strategy for designing and engineering of outstanding electrocatalysts for the OER.