Efficient oxygen evolution reaction from iron-molybdenum nitride/molybdenum oxide heterostructured composites

Integrating various active sites into a multi-component system might significantly enhance the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance. Herein, the as-prepared iron-molybdenum nitride/molybdenum oxide (Fe-Mo₅N₆/MoO₃-550) composite electrocatalyst under optimum conditions demonstrates excellent electrocatalytic performance toward OER and reaches current densities of 10 and 20 mA cm^-2 at overpotentials of 201 and 216 mV, respectively. The OER performance of Fe-Mo₅N₆/MoO₃-550 exceeds that of most previously reported electrocatalytic systems. The significant improvement in the OER performance is ascribed to a combination of mechanisms. The strong electronic interactions among the Fe, Mo₅N₆ and MoO₃ species can accelerate the OER reaction kinetics, which contributes to the OER performance. This work provides new insights into the construction of efficient electrocatalytic materials with inexpensive metals.