Issue 37, 2019

Elemental selenium enables enhanced water oxidation electrocatalysis of NiFe layered double hydroxides

Abstract

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is involved in various renewable energy systems, such as water-splitting, metal–air batteries and CO2 electroreduction. Ni–Fe layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have been reported as promising OER electrocatalysts in alkaline electrolytes. Herein, we demonstrate that the introduction of elemental selenium (Se) with an optimized phase composition, i.e., monoclinic (m-) or trigonal (t-) Se, could effectively tailor the OER activity of NiFe-LDH. Compared to t-Se doped NiFe-LDH, the presence of hybrid m/t-Se could effectively tune the electronic states of Ni–O and Fe–O sites, promote the generation of OER-active γ-NiOOH, and inhibit Fe-migration during the OER process, thus enhancing the OER performance. The optimized Ni0.8Fe0.2-m/t-Se0.02-LDH catalyst exhibits extraordinarily high OER activity, with an overpotential of 200 mV at 10 mA cm−2, which is superior to those of IrO2 and most of the reported Se-based OER catalysts. The Ni0.8Fe0.2-m/t-Se0.02-LDH catalyst is further implemented as an anode for overall water splitting and demonstrates a low cell voltage of 1.50 V to achieve 10 mA cm−2.

Graphical abstract: Elemental selenium enables enhanced water oxidation electrocatalysis of NiFe layered double hydroxides

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 Jul 2019
Accepted
05 Sep 2019
First published
06 Sep 2019

Nanoscale, 2019,11, 17376-17383

Elemental selenium enables enhanced water oxidation electrocatalysis of NiFe layered double hydroxides

S. Duan, S. Chen, T. Wang, S. Li, J. Liu, J. Liang, H. Xie, J. Han, S. Jiao, R. Cao, H. Wang and Q. Li, Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 17376 DOI: 10.1039/C9NR06169J

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