NiMn1.5PO4 thin layer supported on Ni foam as a highly efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting

In this work, we used Ni foam (NF) as a substrate to grow NiMn1.5PO4 thin layers on the surface of NF by a facile method. The NiMn1.5PO4 thin layer uniformly grows and covers on the surface of NF, thus form a three dimensional (3D) network structure. The 3D structure has a large specific surface area and a porous framework structure, which exhibited very low overpotentials and highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The overpotentials of the NiMn1.5PO4/NF catalysts were 72 mV and 198 mV at 10 mA cm(-2) for HER and OER process, respectively. When NiMn1.5PO4/NF was used as both anode and cathode electrocatalyst in 1 M KOH, a low cell voltage of 1.48 V was achieved at current density of 10 mA cm(-2) and showed a good long-term stability for 50 h. In the process of overall water splitting, the H-2 yield can be reached 4.17 mu mol min(-1). (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this study, NiMn1.5PO4 thin layers were grown on Ni foam surface to form a 3D network structure with high specific surface area and porous framework. This structure exhibited low overpotentials and high efficiency in hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions, showing promising potential for water splitting applications.