Bifunctional Porous NiFe/NiCo2O4/Ni Foam Electrodes with Triple Hierarchy and Double Synergies for Efficient Whole Cell Water Splitting

A 3D hierarchical porous catalyst architecture based on earth abundant metals Ni, Fe, and Co has been fabricated through a facile hydrothermal and electrodeposition method for efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The electrode is comprised of three levels of porous structures including the bottom supermacroporous Ni foam (approximate to 500 mu m) substrate, the intermediate layer of vertically aligned macroporous NiCo2O4 nanoflakes (approximate to 500 nm), and the topmost NiFe(oxy)hydroxide mesoporous nanosheets (approximate to 5 nm). This hierarchical architecture is binder-free and beneficial for exposing catalytic active sites, enhancing mass transport and accelerating dissipation of gases generated during water electrolysis. Serving as an anode catalyst, the designed hierarchical electrode displays excellent OER catalytic activity with an overpotential of 340 mV to achieve a high current density of 1200 mA cm(-2). Serving as a cathode catalyst, the catalyst exhibits excellent performance toward HER with a moderate overpotential of 105 mV to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm(-2). Serving as both anode and cathode catalysts in a two-electrode water electrolysis system, the designed electrode only requires a potential of 1.67 V to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm(-2) and exhibits excellent durability in prolonged bulk alkaline water electrolysis.