Hierarchical CoNiSe2 nano-architecture as a high-performance electrocatalyst for water splitting

Hierarchical nano-architectures comprised of ultrathin ternary selenide (CoNiSe2) nanorods were directly grown on nickel foam (NF). The integrated CoNiSe2/NF functions as a robust electrocatalyst with an extremely high activity and stability for emerging renewable energy technologies, and electrochemical oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions (OER and HER, respectively). The overpotentials required to deliver a current density of 100 mA.cm(-2) are as low as 307 and 170 mV for the OER and HER, respectively; therefore, the obtained CoNiSe2 is among the most promising earth-abundant catalysts for water splitting. Furthermore, our synthetic sample validates a two-electrode electrolyzer for reducing the cell voltage in the full water splitting reaction to 1.591 V to achieve a current density of 10 mA.cm(-2), which offers a novel, inexpensive, integrated selenide/NF electrode for electrocatalytic applications.