From Nickel Foam to Highly Active NiFe-based Oxygen Evolution Catalysts

Peugeot, Adele; Creissen, Charles E.; Schreiber, Moritz W.; Fontecave, Marc

Abstract

A key challenge for the large-scale application of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the synthesis of active, cheap and robust catalysts. Here, a straightforward procedure to form novel porous and highly active multimetallic oxygen evolution catalysts was reported. They were derived from an original dendritic nickel foam (NiNF) using two strategies: i) Fe-doping; and ii) Fe/Cr-doping. A bimetallic NiFe catalyst, formed through controlled acid treatment followed by a simple galvanic exchange procedure proved remarkably active in 1 m KOH with a very low overpotential value of η200=276 mV at 200 mA cm−2 and a very low Tafel slope of 25 mV dec−1. A trimetallic FeNiCr catalyst, containing 11 % Cr, was also synthesised through electrodeposition and partial Cr leaching, to form a stable OER catalyst displaying a very low overpotential value of η200=279 mV at 200 mA cm−2 and a Tafel slope of 29 mV dec−1. These two novel catalysts are among the best performing OER catalysts reported so far.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 16, 2022
• Publication Date: Mar 29, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jun 5, 2023
• Journal: CHEMELECTROCHEM
• Print ISSN: 2196-0216
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 6
• Article Number: ARTN e202200148
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/celc.202200148