Improving Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Evolution Using NixFe3–xO4/Ni Hybrid Nanostructures Formed by Solvothermal Synthesis

By Jinzhen Huang, Jiecai Han, Ran Wang, Yuanyuan Zhang, Xianjie Wang, Xinghong Zhang, Zhihua Zhang, Yumin Zhang, Bo Song, Song Jin. ACS Energy Letters, 2018

146 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Spinel-type oxides have been found to be active electrocatalysts for OER. However, their semiconductor character severely limits their catalytic performance. Herein, we report a facile solvothermal pathway for the synthesis of spinel-type NixFe3–xO4 oxides/Ni metal nanocomposites. The good electrical contact between the metal and semiconductor oxide interface and well-tuned compositions of NixFe3–xO4 spinel oxides are crucial to achieve better OER performance. Specifically, the NixFe3–xO4/Ni nanocomposite sample prepared from a metal precursor ratio of y = 0.15 [y = Fe/(Fe + Ni)] that results in an x value of about 0.36 exhibits catalytic activity with an overpotential of 225 mV to achieve an electrocatalytic current density of j = 10 mA cm–2 and a Tafel slope of 44 mV dec–1 in alkaline electrolyte. This study not only provides new perspectives to designing nanocomposite catalysts for OER but also opens a promising avenue for further enhancing electrocatalytic performance via interface and composition eng...

Subfields: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Electrochemistry, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b7756e894d024d5560bff9329aede77a3c7ca149