Spiky Nickel Electrodes for Electrochemical Oxygen Evolution Catalysis by Femtosecond Laser Structuring

Abstract

Micro- and nanostructured Ni/NiO surfaces were generated by femtosecond laser structuring for oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline water electrolysis cells. For two different angles between the laser beam and the nickel surface, two different types of laser-structured electrodes were prepared, characterized, and compared with a plane tempered nickel electrode. Their electrochemical activities for the oxygen evolution reaction were tested by using cyclic and linear sweep voltammetry. The chemical surface composition was investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Laser structuring increased the overall electrochemical performance by more than one order of magnitude. The overpotential of the laser-structured electrodes for the oxygen evolution reaction was decreased by more than 100 mV due to high defect densities of the structures created by the laser ablation process.

Chemical etching induced microporous nickel backbones decorated with metallic Fe@hydroxide nanocatalysts: an efficient and sustainable OER anode toward industrial alkaline water-splitting

“…33 The OER performance of the Fe-18h/NF electrode was also even better than that of a porous Ni electrode (10 mA cm −2 @ η = 300 mV) obtained via phase inversion, 46 and a spiky Ni electrode (100 mA cm −2 @ η = 300 mV in a 25 wt% KOH electrolyte) obtained via femtosecond laser structuring. 47 The obtained superior OER performance of the etched NF electrode of this work over the already reported nanostructured Ni electrodes can be attributed to the synergistic interplay among the uniformly distributed metallic Fe@Ni–Fe-hydroxide nanocrystals, lattice defects and gas/electrolyte diffusible microporous Ni-backbones.…”

Femtosecond Laser-Ablated Copper Surface as a Substrate for a MoS2-Based Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Electrocatalyst

“…There have already been reports of the strongly enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalytic activity of fs-blackened Cu compared to an unmodified sample [ 17 ]. Moreover, several studies on fs-treated Ni have revealed its enhanced oxygen evolution reaction (OER) [ 18 , 19 ] and HER [ 20 ] electrocatalytic properties in alkaline media. A broad range of transition metals including Ti, Mo, W, Co, and more have been investigated for their enhanced electrocatalytic HER activity after laser ablation [ 21 ].…”