Simplified Microwave Assisted Solvothermal One Pot Synthesis of Highly Active Nickel-Iron Layered Double Hydroxide as Oxygen Evolution Reaction Catalyst

Nickel-Iron layered double hydroxides (NiFe-LDH), known as highly active material for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline media, needs better and simpler synthesis routes. Due to high energy efficiency of microwave heating, microwave assisted solvothermal synthesis could play a major role in environmental friendly synthesis routes. This approach could further be a key step for sustainable production of highly active materials like electro-catalysts. Therefore, we developed a simplified and shortened solvothermal microwave assisted one pot synthesis to produce highly active NiFe-LDH supported on Vulcan XC-72r material. The synthesis was studied for reproducibility in loading, composition and activity using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), X-ray diffraction and rotating ring disk electrodes (RDE) in a three electrode set-up.