1652
Coral-like Feni(OH)x@Ni Derived from Corrosion of Nickel As an Integrate Electrode for Efficient Overall Water Splitting

Monday, 14 May 2018
Ballroom 6ABC (Washington State Convention Center)
R. Xiang and Z. D. Wei (Chongqing University)
Noble-metal-free, efficient and stable bifunctional catalysts capable of catalyzing oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are eagerly desired for the commercialization of water splitting electrolysers. Bimetal iron/nickel hydroxide represents a promising water splitting catalyst for its high intrinsic activity, high stability, low cost and nontoxic. To enhance its conductivity and density of active sits, we proposed a mild corrosion assisted protocol to composite FeNi(OH)x nano-sheets with coral-like Ni. These nanosheets together with the electrodeposited coral-like Ni skeleton and the supermacroporous Ni foam substrate constituted a binder-free hierarchical electrode architecture, which is beneficial for exposing catalytic active sites, enhancing mass transport and accelerating dissipation of gaseous species. In 1.0 M KOH solution, the rational designed electrode presented not only magnificent OER catalytic performance with a low overpotential to reach 50 mA cm-2 (η = 254 mV), excellent kinetic (Tafel slop of 45 mV dec-1) and favorable durability, but also superior HER catalytic capability with high activity (η = 68 mV at 10 mA cm-2) and stability. In addition, a symmetric alkaline electrolyser constructed with FeNi(OH)x/Ni as both anode and cathode exhibited better activity (cell voltage of 1.52 V at 10 mA cm-2) than that of the precious metal based couple (i.e. RuO2 - 20 wt% Pt), making FeNi(OH)x/Ni to be a fascinating candidate for overall water splitting.

Key words: Overall water splitting, Integrate electrode, electro-catalysis