Ru-Incorporated Nickel Diselenide Nanosheet Arrays with Accelerated Adsorption Kinetics toward Overall Water Splitting

Developing high-efficiency electrocatalysts toward overall water splitting is an increasingly important area for sustainable energy evolution. Theoretical calculation results demonstrate that the incorporation of Ru optimizes the Gibbs free energy of adsorption of H2O molecules and intermediates for the hydrogen/oxygen evolution reactions (HER/OER) on metal selenide sites, thus boosting electrocatalytic overall water splitting. Accordingly, ruthenium modified nickel diselenide nanosheet arrays are designed and construct on nickel foam (Ru-NiSe2/NF). The obtained Ru-NiSe2/NF electrode with a stable 3D structure shows greatly improved OER and HER activity in alkaline solution. Particularly, toward OER, it only requires 210 mV to obtain a current density of 10 mA cm(-2), and the formation of the intermediate nickel oxyhydroxide as active center during the OER process is captured by in situ Raman. Moreover, the overall water splitting can be driven by a voltage of merely 1.537 V to obtain 10 mA cm(-2). This work provides an available strategy for selenides to enhance electrochemical properties and inspires more studies to explore highly efficient electrocatalysts toward full water splitting.

Automated summary

This research successfully enhanced the electrochemical activity of oxygen and hydrogen in overall water splitting by designing and constructing ruthenium modified nickel diselenide nanosheet arrays. Experimental results show that the electrode exhibits excellent oxygen and hydrogen evolution performance in alkaline solution, with the active center during the OER process being captured.