Interface engineering of Ni/NiO heterostructures with abundant catalytic active sites for enhanced methanol oxidation electrocatalysis

Designing efficient and stable non-noble metal electrocatalysts with good performance in reaction kinetics is desirable yet challenging for the study of methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). Herein, we have reported well-defined nanoscale nickel/nickel oxide (Ni/NiO) heterostructures supported by a three-dimensional (3D) porous graphene network (RG) via a delicate interface engineering technique. The as-prepared 3D Ni/NiO/RG composites achieve outstanding catalytic activity (79.5 mA cm−2/1262.1 mA mg−1) for MOR in alkaline solution, outperforming most reported non-precious catalysts. A combined experimental and computational investigation shows that such a good performance benefits from the specific Ni/NiO interface, which not only bears abundant accessible active sites but also improves the energetics of MOR. Moreover, this interface contributes to favorable kinetic and improved structural stability during electrocatalysis, ensuring superior catalytic performance after 1000 consecutive cyclic voltammetry tests for MOR. Our work demonstrates the potential of interface engineering in the rational design of efficient precious-metal-free electrocatalysts.