Rational
design of transition-metal phosphide (TMPs)-based electrocatalysts
can effectively promote oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, the
novel efficient Ni2P/Fe3O4 porous
nanosheets arrays supported on Ni foam (Ni2P/Fe3O4/NF) as alkaline OER catalysts were synthesized using
structural and interfacial engineering. The three-dimensional (3D)
porous hierarchical structure of Ni2P/Fe3O4/NF provides abundant active sites for OER and facilitates
the electrolyte diffusion of ions and O2 liberation. Furthermore,
the strong interfacial coupling and synergistic effect between Ni2P and Fe3O4 modify the electronic structure,
resulting in the enhanced intrinsic activity. Consequently, the optimized
Ni2P/Fe3O4/NF exhibits excellent
OER performance with low overpotentials of 213 and 240 mV at 60 and
100 mA cm–2 in 1.0 M KOH, respectively, better than
the RuO2/NF and most Ni/Fe-based OER catalysts. Impressively,
it can maintain its catalytic activity for at least 20 h at 60 mA
cm–2. In addition, the relationship between the
structure and performance is fully elucidated by the experimental
characterizations, indicating that the metal oxyhydroxides in situ
generated on the surface of catalysts are responsible for the high
OER activity.