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FeCoNi(OH)x/Ni mesh electrode boosting oxygen evolution reaction for high-performance alkaline water electrolysis

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Abstract

The development of efficient and durable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts is of great significance for the application of high-efficiency alkaline water electrolysis hydrogen production technology. In this work, a highly efficient and stable OER catalyst with a layered structure, in which layered hydroxides of FeCoNi(OH)x are prepared on a Ni mesh substrate by electrodeposition. In three-electrode tests, the FeCoNi(OH)x/Ni mesh has an overpotential of 138 mV at 10 mA cm−2, much lower than that of Ni mesh (341 mV) and Raney Ni/Ni mesh (277 mV). Under the condition of 50 mA cm−2, FeCoNi(OH)x/Ni mesh exhibits excellent stability for 80 h. Moreover, when installed in a single cell of an alkaline electrolysis cell, the FeCoNi(OH)x/Ni mesh electrode cell voltage is 2.003 V at 8000 A m−2, much lower than the Ni mesh (2.224 V) and Raney Ni/Ni mesh (2.086 V), demonstrating excellent OER performance. Tafel slope, contact angles, and EIS tests reveal that the synthesized FeCoNi(OH)x/Ni mesh shows favorable kinetics, super hydrophilic surface, and fast bubble detachment, ultimately reducing the OER overpotential and promoting electrocatalytic activity.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledged the support from Shanghai Science and Technology Committee.

Funding

This work was financially supported by the Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (No: 21DZ1207902).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Sunwise Energy Systems Co. Ltd., Shanghai, 200092, China

    Sen Wang, Shixiang Xue, Chaojie Tang, Huifeng Gao & Dingyun Gao

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  1. Sen Wang
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  3. Chaojie Tang
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the work. SW: design of the work, providing idea, synthesizing materials, analyzing data, and writing and revising—original draft. CT and SX: measuring and collating data. HG: resources, review, and supervision. DG: resources, review, and supervision. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sen Wang.

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Wang, S., Xue, S., Tang, C. et al. FeCoNi(OH)x/Ni mesh electrode boosting oxygen evolution reaction for high-performance alkaline water electrolysis. Appl. Phys. A 129, 789 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-023-07077-z

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