Dense Crystalline/Amorphous Phosphides/Oxides Interfacial Sites for Enhanced Industrial-Level Large Current Density Seawater Oxidation

Designing high-efficiency and low-cost catalysts withhigh currentdensities for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is critical forcommercial seawater electrolysis. Here, we present a heterophase syntheticstrategy for constructing an electrocatalyst with dense heterogeneousinterfacial sites among crystalline Ni2P, Fe2P, CeO2, and amorphous NiFeCe oxides on nickel foam (NF).The synergistic effect of high-density crystalline and amorphous heterogeneousinterfaces effectively promotes the redistribution of the charge densityand optimizes the adsorbed oxygen intermediates, lowering the energybarrier and promoting the O-2 desorption, thus enhancingthe OER performance. The obtained NiFeO-CeO2/NF catalystexhibited outstanding OER catalytic activity, with low overpotentialsof 338 and 408 mV required to attain high current densities of 500and 1000 mA cm(-2), respectively, in alkaline naturalseawater electrolytes. The solar-driven seawater electrolysis systempresents a record-setting and stable solar-to-hydrogen conversionefficiency of 20.10%. This work provides directives for developinghighly effective and stable catalysts for large-scale clean energyproduction.

Automated summary

We designed a heterophase electrocatalyst with dense heterogeneous interfacial sites to enhance the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance. The synergistic effect of high-density crystalline and amorphous heterogeneous interfaces effectively promotes charge redistribution and optimizes the adsorbed oxygen intermediates, leading to increased OER catalytic activity.