Electronic structure-modulated NiFe-metal–organic framework nanosheets for enhance electrochemical oxygen Evolution

Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) is a critical half-reaction that hinders water decomposition due to its sluggish kinetics. Developing efficient, stable electrocatalysts for OER is crucial for addressing the challenges in energy crisis and green hydrogen production. Compared to single-metal Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), synergistic interactions between metal ions in bimetallic MOFs provide sufficient space for tuning the electronic structure and oxygen-containing intermediate adsorption energies, and therefore bimetallic MOFs shows great potential in enhancing the OER kinetics. In this work, NiFe-MIL-88A nanosheets were synthesized on nickel foam via a facile one-step hydrothermal method. The catalyst exhibited exceptional OER performance in 1.0 M KOH solution. Notably, it achieved a current density of 50 mA cm−2 at a low overpotential of 220 mV and displayed a Tafel slope of 43.2 mV/dec. Furthermore, it had impressive electrocatalytic durability suitable for commercial applications. This work elucidates the performance enhancement of NiFe bimetallic MOF from the perspective of electron migration. In-situ Raman spectroscopy was adopted to investigate the structural reconfiguration of the catalyst to reveal the true catalytic active sites. First-principle calculation demonstrate that introduction of Ni atoms with low electronegativity is conducive to optimizing the catalytic d-band center and ƒe value. This work provides insights for the designing bimetallic MOFs with superior OER performance.