CuO Nanorod Arrays Shelled with Amorphous NiFe Layered Double Hydroxide Film for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation Activity

Abstract

Recently, extensive efforts have been focused on CuO materials as the non-noble metal electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). However, their catalytic efficiency is still far from meeting the need of practical large-scale water splitting because of poor electrical conductivity and limited exposed active sites. Herein, we report that amorphous NiFe layered double hydroxide film can be grown on CuO nanorod arrays supported on Cu foil (NiFe-LDH/CuO NRs/CF) to construct a core−shell heterostructure via a facile electrochemical deposition approach. The resulting core−shell heterostructure demonstrates excellent OER performance in 1 M KOH, only requiring a small overpotential of 290 mV to drive the current density of 50 mV cm −2 with a low Tafel slope of 60 mV dec −1 , and maintaining a steady current density of 50 mA cm −2 for at least 35 h with negligible decline in catalytic activity, which is the best OER performance among reported CuO electrocatalysts to date. Remarkably, this catalytic performance is also superior to that of the state-of-the-art IrO 2 catalyst. The prominent catalytic performance of NiFe-LDH/CuO NRs could be attributed to the synergistic effect between NiFe-LDH film and CuO NRs. As a result, our research indicates that the construction of amorphous heterostructures could be a promising strategy for development of efficient OER systems.

Recent progress in functionalized layered double hydroxides and their application in efficient electrocatalytic water oxidation

“…construction of heterostructures to improve the catalytic performance derived from the synergistic effect. For example, amorphous NiFe LDH film covered on CuO nanorod arrays was synthesized by Zhou et al [82] . The resulting core-shell heterostructure demonstrated excellent OER performance in 10 M KOH solution with an overpotential of 0.29 V at the current density of 50 mA cm −2 with the Tafel slope of 60 mV/dec.…”

Substrate participation ultrafast synthesis of amorphous NiFe nanosheets on iron foam at room temperature toward highly efficient oxygen evolution reaction

“…And the powder catalysts prepared by these methods usually requires an external agent such as Nafion for binding onto the electrode surface, which increases the cost and reduces the stability of catalysts. In addition, most methods usually take a long time to prepare the catalysts, which need at least several hours [29][30][31][32] . Therefore, developing a rapid and green method of preparing amorphous material for OER remains a huge challenge.…”

Ternary Monolithic ZnS/CdS/rGO Photomembrane with Desirable Charge Separation/Transfer Routes for Effective Photocatalytic and Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Generation

“…In this context, multicomponent photocatalytic systems with extended light absorption and improved photoactivity as a result of the combined properties of each component are more attractive than single‐phase photocatalysts . However, separation/transport processes of photogenerated charge carriers become more complex in such heterostructures, where the separation/transport occurs not only in the bulk and on the surface of each component but also at the interfaces . The latter actually plays a key role in improving PC activity .…”

“…[3][4][5] However,s eparation/transportp rocesses of photogeneratedc harge carriers become more complex in such heterostructures, where the separation/transport occurs not only in the bulk and on the surfaceo fe ach component but also at the interfaces. [6][7][8] The latter actually plays a key role in improving PC activity. [9] It is of paramount impor-tance to design efficient semiconductor-based composite photocatalytic systemsw ith ideal route of charget ransport and desirable heterointerfaces for the separation/transport of photogenerated charge carriers.…”