Abstract
The electrocatalyst NiFeRuOx/NF, comprised of NiFeRuOx nanosheets grown on Ni foam, was synthesized using a hydrothermal process followed by thermal annealing. NiFeRuOx/NF displays high electrocatalytic activity and stability for overall alkaline seawater splitting: 98 mV@ 10 mA·cm−2 in hydrogen evolution reaction, 318 mV@ 50 mA·cm−2 in oxygen evolution reaction, and a cell voltage of 1.53 V@ 10 mA·cm−2, as well as 20 h of durability. A solar-driven system containing such a bifunctional NiFeRuOx/NF has an almost 100% Faradaic efficiency. The NiFeRuOx coating around Ni foam is an anti-corrosion layer and also a critical factor for enhancement of bifunctional performances.
References
Dresp S, Dionigi F, Klingenhof M, Strasser P. Direct electrolytic splitting of seawater: opportunities and challenges. ACS Energy Letters, 2019, 4(4): 933–942
Kuang Y, Kenney M J, Meng Y T, Hung W H, Liu Y J, Huang J E, Prasanna R, Li P S, Li Y P, Wang L, Lin M C, McGehee M D, Sun X, Dai H. Solar-driven, highly sustained splitting of seawater into hydrogen and oxygen fuels. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2019, 116(14): 6624–6629
Wu X H, Zhou S, Wang Z Y, Liu J S, Pei W, Yang P J, Zhao J J, Qiu J S. Engineering multifunctional collaborative catalytic interface enabling efficient hydrogen evolution in all pH range and seawater. Advanced Energy Materials, 2019, 9(34): 1901333
Hisatomi T, Domen K. Reaction systems for solar hydrogen production via water splitting with particulate semiconductor photocatalysts. Nature Catalysis, 2019, 2(5): 387–399
Xiang C X, Weber A Z, Ardo S, Berger A, Chen Y K, Coridan R, Fountaine K T, Haussener S, Hu S, Liu R, Lewis N S, Modestino M A, Shaner M M, Singh M R, Stevens J C, Sun K, Walczak K. Modeling, simulation, and implementation of solar-driven watersplitting devices. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2016, 55(42): 12974–12988
Li F S, Xu R, Nie C M, Wu X J, Zhang P L, Duan L L, Sun L C. Dye-sensitized LaFeO3 photocathode for solar-driven H2 generation. Chemical Communications, 2019, 55(86): 12940–12943
Long X, Li J K, Xiao S, Yan K Y, Wang Z L, Chen H N, Yang S H. A strongly coupled graphene and FeNi double hydroxide hybrid as an excellent electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2014, 53(29): 7584–7588
Zhou W J, Wu X J, Cao X H, Huang X, Tan C L, Tian J, Liu H, Wang J Y, Zhang H. Ni3S2 nanorods/Ni foam composite electrode with low overpotential for electrocatalytic oxygen evolution. Energy & Environmental Science, 2013, 6(10): 2921–2924
Jiang J, Liu J P, Zhou W W, Zhu J H, Huang X T, Qi X Y, Zhang H, Yu T. CNT/Ni hybrid nanostructured arrays: synthesis and application as high-performance electrode materials for pseudocapacitors. Energy & Environmental Science, 2011, 4(12): 5000–5007
Hsu S H, Miao J W, Zhang L P, Gao J J, Wang H M, Tao H B, Hung S F, Vasileff A, Qiao S Z, Liu B. An earth-abundant catalyst-based seawater photoelectrolysis system with 17.9% solar-to-hydrogen efficiency. Advanced Materials, 2018, 30(18): 1707261
Yu L, Zhu Q, Song S W, McElhenny B, Wang D Z, Wu C Z, Qin Z J, Bao J M, Yu Y, Chen S, Ren Z. Non-noble metal-nitride based electrocatalysts for high-performance alkaline seawater electrolysis. Nature Communications, 2019, 10(1): 5106
Xiao Y X, Ying J, Tian G, Yang X, Zhang Y X, Chen J B, Wang Y, Symes M D, Ozoemena K I, Wu J S, Yang X Y. Hierarchically fractal PtPdCu sponges and their directed mass- and electron-transfer effects. Nano Letters, 2021, 21(18): 7870–7878
Wang H Y, Weng C C, Ren J T, Yuan Z Y. An overview and recent advances in electrocatalysts for direct seawater splitting. Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering, 2021, 15(6): 1408–1426
Hu R G, Liu F Y, Qiu H Q, Miao H, Wang Q, Zhang H C, Wang F, Yuan J L. High-property anode catalyst compositing Co-based perovskite and NiFe-layered double hydroxide for alkaline seawater splitting. Processes, 2022, 10(4): 668
Jiang S S, Liu Y, Qiu H, Su C, Shao Z P. High selectivity electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction and anti-chlorine corrosion strategies in seawater splitting. Catalysts, 2022, 12(3): 261
Li Y C, Wu X Y, Wang J P, Wei H X, Zhang S Y, Zhu S L, Li Z Y, Wu S L, Jiang H, Liang Y Q. Sandwich structured Ni3S2-MoS2-Ni3S2@Ni foam electrode as a stable bifunctional electrocatalyst for highly sustained overall seawater splitting. Electrochimica Acta, 2021, 390: 138833
Fang F, Wang Y, Shen L W, Tian G, Cahen D, Xiao Y X, Chen J B, Wu S M, He L, Ozoemena K I, Symes M D, Yang X Y. Interfacial carbon makes nano-particulate RuO2 an efficient, stable, pH-universal catalyst for splitting of seawater. Small, 2022, 18(42): 2203778
Higgins S. Regarding ruthenium. Nature Chemistry, 2010, 2(12): 1100
Yu J, He Q J, Yang G M, Zhou W, Shao Z P, Ni M. Recent advances and prospective in ruthenium-based materials for electrochemical water splitting. ACS Catalysis, 2019, 9(11): 9973–10011
Jia M P, Shen L, Tian G, de Torresi S I C, Symes M D, Yang X Y. Superior electrocatalysis delivered by a directional electron transfer cascade in hierarchical CoNi/Ru@C. Chemistry, an Asian Journal, 2022, 17(17): e202200449
Chen G B, Wang T, Zhang J, Liu P, Sun H J, Zhuang X D, Chen M W, Feng X L. Accelerated hydrogen evolution kinetics on NiFe-layered double hydroxide electrocatalysts by tailoring water dissociation active sites. Advanced Materials, 2018, 30(10): 1706279
Zhang X Y, Wu Z Z, Wang D Z. Oxygen-incorporated defect-rich MoP for highly efficient hydrogen production in both acidic and alkaline media. Electrochimica Acta, 2018, 281: 540–548
Xie J F, Zhang J J, Li S, Grote F, Zhang X D, Zhang H, Wang R X, Lei Y, Pan B C, Xie Y. Controllable disorder engineering in oxygen-incorporated MoS2 ultrathin nanosheets for efficient hydrogen evolution. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2013, 135(47): 17881–17888
Han M M, Yan G. Prussian blue analogue-derived porous bimetallic oxides Fe3O4-NiO/NF as urea oxidation electrocatalysis. Chemical Papers, 2020, 74(12): 4473–4480
Zhu Y X, Jiang M Y, Liu M, Wu L K, Hou G Y, Tang Y P. An Fe-V@NiO heterostructure electrocatalyst towards the oxygen evolution reaction. Nanoscale, 2020, 12(6): 3803–3811
Yan X D, Tian L H, Li K X, Atkins S, Zhao H F, Murowchick J, Liu L, Chen X B. FeNi3/NiFeOx nanohybrids as highly efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting. Advanced Materials Interfaces, 2016, 3(22): 1600368
Mansour A N. Characterization of NiO by XPS. Surface Science Spectra, 1994, 3(3): 231–238
Liang C W, Zou P C, Nairan A, Zhang Y Q, Liu J X, Liu K W, Hu S Y, Kang F Y, Fan H J, Yang C. Exceptional performance of hierarchical Ni-Fe oxyhydroxide@NiFe alloy nanowire array electrocatalysts for large current density water splitting. Energy & Environmental Science, 2020, 13(1): 86–95
Lu X Y, Zhao C A. Electrodeposition of hierarchically structured three-dimensional nickel-iron electrodes for efficient oxygen evolution at high current densities. Nature Communications, 2015, 6(1): 6616
Zhu K Y, Zhu X F, Yang W S. Application of in situ techniques for the characterization of NiFe-based oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2019, 58(5): 1252–1265
Gao X Y, Chen J, Sun X Z, Wu B F, Li B, Ning Z C, Li J, Wang N. Ru/RuO2 nanoparticle composites with N-doped reduced graphene oxide as electrocatalysts for hydrogen and oxygen evolution. ACS Applied Nano Materials, 2020, 3(12): 12269–12277
Shen L W, Wang Y, Chen J B, Tian G, Xiong K Y, Janiak C, Cahen D, Yang X Y. A RuCoBO nanocomposite for highly efficient and stable electrocatalytic seawater splitting. Nano Letters, 2023, 23(3): 1052–1060
Wang Z F, Shen Q Q, Xue J B, Guan R F, Li Q, Liu X G, Jia H S, Wu Y C. 3D hierarchically porous NiO/NF electrode for the removal of chromium(VI) from wastewater by electrocoagulation. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2020, 402: 126151
Dong G F, Fang M, Zhang J S, Wei R J, Shu L, Liang X G, Yip S P, Wang F Y, Guan L H, Zheng Z J, Ho J C. In situ formation of highly active Ni-Fe based oxygen-evolving electrocatalysts via simple reactive dip-coating. Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, Materials for Energy and Sustainability, 2017, 5(22): 11009–11015
Tian X Y, Zhao P C, Sheng W C. Hydrogen evolution and oxidation: mechanistic studies and material advances. Advanced Materials, 2019, 31(31): 1808066
Liu Y, Yu H Z, Wang Y, Tian G, Zhou L, de Torresi S I C, Ozoemena K I, Yang X Y. Hierarchically fractal Co with highly exposed active facets and directed electron-transfer effect. Chemical Communications, 2022, 58(49): 6882–6885
Yang Y Q, Zhang K, Lin H L, Li X, Chan H C, Yang L C, Gao Q S. MoS2-Ni3S2 heteronanorods as efficient and stable bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting. ACS Catalysis, 2017, 7(4): 2357–2366
Ren J T, Chen L, Wang H Y, Tian W W, Zhang X, Ma T Y, Zhou Z, Yuan Z Y. Inducing electronic asymmetricity on Ru clusters to boost key reaction steps in basic hydrogen evolution. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2023, 327: 122466
Subbaraman R, Tripkovic D, Strmcnik D, Chang K C, Uchimura M, Paulikas A P, Stamenkovic V, Markovic N M. Enhancing hydrogen evolution activity in water splitting by tailoring Li+-Ni(OH)2-Pt interfaces. Science, 2011, 334(6060): 1256–1260
Ren J T, Wang L, Chen L, Song X L, Kong Q H, Wang H Y, Yuan Z Y. Interface metal oxides regulating electronic state around nickel species for efficient alkaline hydrogen electrocatalysis. Small, 2023, 19(5): 2206196
Cao D, Xu H X, Cheng D J. Construction of defect-rich RhCu nanotubes with highly active Rh3Cu1 alloy phase for overall water splitting in all pH values. Advanced Energy Materials, 2020, 10(9): 1903038
Tian N, Zhou Z Y, Sun S G, Ding Y, Wang Z L. Synthesis of tetrahexahedral platinum nanocrystals with high-index facets and high electro-oxidation activity. Science, 2007, 316(5825): 732–735
Ren J T, Yuan G G, Weng C C, Chen L, Yuan Z Y. Uniquely integrated Fe-doped Ni(OH)2 nanosheets for highly efficient oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions. Nanoscale, 2018, 10(22): 10620–10628
Ren J T, Yao Y L, Yuan Z Y. Fabrication strategies of porous precious-metal-free bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting: recent advances. Green Energy & Environment, 2021, 6(5): 620–643
Li J Y, Yan M, Zhou X M, Huang Z Q, Xia Z M, Chang C R, Ma Y Y, Qu Y Q. Mechanistic insights on ternary Ni2−xCoxP for hydrogen evolution and their hybrids with graphene as highly efficient and robust catalysts for overall water splitting. Advanced Functional Materials, 2016, 26(37): 6785–6796
Samanta R, Panda P, Mishra R, Barman S. IrO2-modified RuO2 nanowires/nitrogen-doped carbon composite for effective overall water splitting in all pH. Energy & Fuels, 2022, 36(2): 1015–1026
Shi Y M, Zhang B. Recent advances in transition metal phosphide nanomaterials: synthesis and applications in hydrogen evolution reaction. Chemical Society Reviews, 2016, 45(6): 1529–1541
Huang S C, Meng Y Y, He S M, Goswami A, Wu Q L, Li J H, Tong S F, Asefa T, Wu M M. N-, O-, and S-tridoped carbon-encapsulated Co9S8 nanomaterials: efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting. Advanced Functional Materials, 2017, 27(17): 1606585
Ren J T, Wang Y S, Chen L, Gao L J, Tian W W, Yuan Z Y. Binary FeNi phosphides dispersed on N,P-doped carbon nanosheets for highly efficient overall water splitting and rechargeable Zn-air batteries. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2020, 389: 124408
Trotochaud L, Young S L, Ranney J K, Boettcher S W. Nickel-iron oxyhydroxide oxygen-evolution electrocatalysts: the role of intentional and incidental iron incorporation. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2014, 136(18): 6744–6753
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by National Key R&D Program of China (Grant Nos. 2022YFB3805600 and 2022YFB3805604), South Africa’s National Research Foundation through the SARChI Chair in Materials Electrochemistry and Energy Technologies (Grant No. 132739), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 22293020), National 111 project (Grant No. B20002), Program for Innovative Research Team in University of Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. IRT_15R52), Sino-German Centre’s COVID-19 Related Bilateral Collaborative Project (Grant No. C-0046), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Grant No. 2022A1515010137), Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (Grant Nos. GJHZ20210705143204014, JCYJ20210324142010029, and KCXFZ20211020170006010).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Electronic Supplementary Material
Supplementary material, approximately 12.2 MB.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liu, Y., Chen, L., Wang, Y. et al. NiFeRuOx nanosheets on Ni foam as an electrocatalyst for efficient overall alkaline seawater splitting. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng. 17, 1698–1706 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-023-2334-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-023-2334-8