Surface Reconstruction Facilitated by Fluorine Migration and Bimetallic Center in NiCo Bimetallic Fluoride Toward Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a critical anodic reaction of electrochemical water splitting, developing a high-efficiency electrocatalyst is essential. Transition metal-based catalysts are much more cost-effective if comparable activities can be achieved. Among them, fluorides are rarely reported due to their low aqueous stability of coordination and low electric conductivity. Herein, a NiCo bimetallic fluoride with good crystallinity is designed and constructed, and significantly enhanced catalytic activity and conductivity are observed. The inevitable oxidation of transition metal ions at high potential and the dissociation of F- are attributed to the low aqueous stability of coordination. The theoretical researches predicte that transition metal fluorides should have a strong tendency to electrochemical reconstruction. Therefore, based on the observations on their electrochemical behavior, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and bode plots, it is further demonstrated that surface reconstruction occurred during the electrochemical process, meanwhile a significant increase of electrochemically active area, which is created by F migration, are also directly observed. Additionally, DFT calculation results show that the electronic structure of the catalysts is modulated by the bimetallic centers, and this reconstruction helps optimizing the adsorption energy of oxygen-containing species and improves OER activity. Novel solid-liquid contact modification and one-step vapor phase fluorination strategies are adopted to synthesize stable and efficient NiCo bimetallic fluoride Ni0.42Co0.58F2-G with high crystallinity, which exhibited a significant enlarged ECSA by F migration during surface reconstruction. DFT calculations indicate that bimetallic center can induce redistribution of electrons and optimize the adsorption of intermediates, further facilitating surface reconfiguration and OER kinetics.image

Automated summary

This study investigates the application of a NiCo bimetallic fluoride catalyst in electrochemical water splitting. The use of bimetallic fluorides can significantly enhance catalytic activity and conductivity in water electrolysis. The study finds that the bimetallic fluoride exhibits strong reconstruction ability, leading to surface reconstruction and an increase in the electrochemically active area during the electrochemical process, thereby improving the oxygen evolution reaction activity.