Corrosion engineering approach to rapidly prepare Ni(Fe)OOH/Ni(Fe)Sx nanosheet arrays for efficient water oxidation

The Ni-Fe composite catalyst has received in-depth research attention due to high intrinsic activity in electrochemical water splitting applications. Corrosion engineering is considered an effective strategy for preparing large-scale Ni-Fe composites to match industrial electrocatalytic electrolyzers. Here, we demonstrate an efficient corrosion strategy to prepare defect-rich Ni(Fe)OOH/Ni(Fe)S-x nanosheet arrays on a NiFe foam within 10 min. The corrosion solution we proposed (containing (NH4)(2)S2O8, (NH2)(2)CS, and FeCl3) has strong oxidizing properties, which releases a large amount of heat when it corrodes the Ni-Fe foam. The heat promotes the hydrolysis of (NH2)(2)CS and creates an alkaline environment for the rapid growth of Ni-Fe composites. Experimental results reveal that Ni(Fe)S-x plays a crucial role in enhancing the oxygen evolution reaction performance of Ni(Fe)OOH/Ni(Fe)S-x. Therefore, Ni(Fe)OOH/Ni(Fe)S-x exhibits remarkable catalytic activity with low overpotentials of 227 and 313 mV to afford current densities of 10 and 1000 mA cm(-2), respectively. Under 270 mV overpotential, the intrinsic catalytic activity of Ni(Fe)OOH/Ni(Fe)S-x is 24.65-fold, 21.09-fold, and 52.21-fold that of FeOOH/FeSx, NiOOH/NiSx, and Ni(Fe)OOH, respectively. Moreover, large-scale Ni(Fe)OOH/Ni(Fe)S-x electrode materials are prepared with a size of 10 x 10 cm(2) on a NiFe foam, implying the huge potential for practical applications. This work offers a new perspective on designing large-scale and highly active oxygen evolution catalysts.

Automated summary

In this study, an efficient corrosion strategy was proposed to prepare defect-rich Ni(Fe)OOH/Ni(Fe)S-x nanosheet arrays on a NiFe foam within 10 minutes, exhibiting remarkable catalytic activity. This work offers a new perspective on designing large-scale and highly active oxygen evolution catalysts.