Boosting the electrocatalytic activity of NiSe by introducing MnCo as an efficient heterostructured electrocatalyst for large-current-density alkaline seawater splitting

Hydrogen production employing seawater electrolysis is a sustainable strategy for future energy prospects. This study reports high-performance bifunctional water (seawater) electrocatalyst by designing 3-D heterostructured MnCo/NiSe/NF. MnCo/NiSe is concurrently highly energetic toward HER (22.1, 182.8, and 211.6 mV in alkaline water and 31.4, 216.3, and 270.1 mV in alkaline seawater to touch current densities of-10,-500, and-1000 mA cm-2, respectively) and OER (225.8, 340.4, and 370.7 in alkaline water and 261.3, 419.4, and 460.2 mV in alkaline seawater to attain 10, 500, and 1000 mA cm-2, respectively). Interestingly, with cell voltages of 1.41, 1.67, 1.88, and 1.92 V in 1.0 M KOH and 1.44. 1.82, 1.99, and 2.11 V in 1.0 M KOH + seawater to run 10, 100, 500, and 1000 mA cm-2, respectively. DFT based modeling rationalizes our experiments and indicates the syn-ergistic effects between MnCo and NiSe in their complex.

Automated summary

This study presents a high-performance bifunctional water (seawater) electrocatalyst, 3-D heterostructured MnCo/NiSe/NF, for hydrogen production through seawater electrolysis. The MnCo/NiSe catalyst exhibits excellent catalytic activity for both HER and OER in alkaline water and seawater, with a synergistic effect between MnCo and NiSe. The findings are supported by DFT-based modeling.