NiFeMn-Layered Double Hydroxides Linked by Graphene as High-Performance Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Currently, precious metal group materials are known as the efficient and widely used oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts. The exorbitant prices and scarcity of the precious metals have stimulated scale exploration of alternative non-precious metal catalysts with low-cost and high performance. Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are a promising precursor to prepare cost-effective and high-performance catalysts because they possess abundant micropores and nitrogen self-doping after pyrolysis, which can accelerate the electron transfer and serve as active sites for efficient OER. Herein, we developed a new highly active NiFeMn-layered double hydroxide (NFM LDH) based electrocatalyst for OER. Through building NFM hydroxide/oxyhydroxide heterojunction and incorporation of conductive graphene, the prepared NFM LDH-based electrocatalyst delivers a low overpotential of 338 mV at current density of 10 mA cm(-2) with a small Tafel slope of 67 mV dec(-1), which are superior to those of commercial RuO2 catalyst for OER. The LDH/OOH heterojunction involves strong interfacial coupling, which modulates the local electronic environment and boosts the kinetics of charge transfer. In addition, the high valence Fe3+ and Mn3+ species formed after NaOH treatment provide more active sites and promote the Ni2+ to higher oxidation states during the O-2 evolution. Moreover, graphene contributes a lot to the reduction of charge transfer resistance. The combining effects have greatly enhanced the catalytic ability for OER, demonstrating that the synthesized NFM LDH/OOH heterojunction with graphene linkage can be practically applied as a high-performance electrocatalyst for oxygen production via water splitting.

Automated summary

Precious metal group materials, known as efficient OER and HER catalysts, have high prices and scarcity, motivating the exploration of low-cost and high-performance non-precious metal catalysts. In this study, a new highly active NFM LDH-based electrocatalyst was developed for OER, showing superior performance to commercial RuO2 catalyst. The LDH/OOH heterojunction, high valence Fe3+ and Mn3+ species, and graphene contributed to the enhanced catalytic ability.