Highly Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction Enabled by Phosphorus Doping of the Fe Electronic Structure in Iron-Nickel Selenide Nanosheets

The electronic structure of active sites is critically important for electrochemical reactions. Here, the authors report a facile approach to independently regulate the electronic structure of Fe in Ni0.75Fe0.25Se2 by P doping. The resulting electrode exhibits superior catalytic performance for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) showing a low overpotential (238 mV at 100 mA cm(-2), 185 mV at 10 mA cm(-2)) and an impressive durability in an alkaline medium. Additionally, the mass activity of 328.19 A g(-1) and turnover frequency (TOF) of 0.18 s(-1) at an overpotential of 500 mV are obtained for PNi0.75Fe0.25Se2 which is much higher than that of Ni0.75Fe0.25Se2 and RuO2. This work presents a new strategy for the rational design of efficient electrocatalysts for OER.

Automated summary

The authors reported a facile approach to independently regulate the electronic structure of Fe in Ni0.75Fe0.25Se2 by P doping, resulting in an electrode with superior catalytic performance for the oxygen evolution reaction. The new strategy presented in this work allows for rational design of efficient electrocatalysts for OER.