the global energy and environmental issues. [1][2][3] Its half-reaction, oxygen evolution reaction (OER), is considered as the key bottleneck in water splitting owing to its multiple protons and electron transfer. [4,5] Through precious metal oxides such as IrO 2 and RuO 2 exhibit effective OER activity, the scarcity, high cost, and inferior stability hinder their widespread applications. [6] The development of highly active electrocatalysts based on earthabundant elements is a highly promising solution to above predicament. However, at present, few noble-metal-free electrocatalysts can meet the requirements of commercial alkaline water electrolysis: afford the current density of 1000 mA cm −2 with stable operation over 100 h. [7,8] Therefore, developing noble-metal-free electrocatalysts with high efficiency and outstanding durability at the large current densities is imperative yet challenging.Iron (Fe)-based materials, especially FeOOH, have recently drawn great attention as promising OER catalysts due to their abundance, cost-effectiveness, and environmental friendliness. [9][10][11] It is reported that the intrinsic activity of FeOOH for OER is higher than that of NiOOH and CoOOH. [12] Nevertheless, the OER performance of FeOOH is far from satisfactory
DevelopingFeOOH as a robust electrocatalyst for high output oxygen evolution reaction (OER) remains challenging due to its low conductivity and dissolvability in alkaline conditions. Herein, it is demonstrated that the robust and high output Zn doped NiOOH-FeOOH (Zn-Fe x Ni (1−x) )OOH catalyst can be derived by electro-oxidation-induced reconstruction from the pre-electrocatalyst of Zn modified Ni metal/FeOOH film supported by nickel foam (NF). In situ Raman and ex situ characterizations elucidate that the pre-electrocatalyst undergoes dynamic reconstruction occurring on both the catalyst surface and underneath metal support during the OER process. That involves the Fe dissolution-redeposition and the merge of Zn doped FeOOH with in situ generated NiOOH from NF support and NiZn alloy nanoparticles. Benefiting from the Zn doping and the covalence interaction of FeOOH-NiOOH, the reconstructed electrode shows superior corrosion resistance, and enhanced catalytic activity as well as bonding force at the catalyst-support interface. Together with the feature of superaerophobic surface, the reconstructed electrode only requires an overpotential of 330 mV at a high-current-density of 1000 mA cm −2 and maintains 97% of its initial activity after 1000 h. This work provides an indepth understanding of electrocatalyst reconstruction during the OER process, which facilitates the design of high-performance OER catalysts.