Ultrafast construction of interfacial sites by wet chemical etching to enhance electrocatalytic oxygen evolution

Abstract Interface engineering has been recognized as a highly effective strategy for regulating the surface properties and improving the catalytic activities of materials, while the traditional interface construction methods are energy consumption and time-consuming. Herein, an ultrafast (30 s) interfacial reaction strategy is developed to construct the NiCo-LDH@FeOOH hetero-interface structure integrated on carbon fiber paper (NiCo-LDH@FeOOH/CFP) by a wet chemical etching method, which is involved in the Fe3+-triggered H+ ions formation and etching as well as the Fe3+ ions hydrolysis. The as-made NiCo-LDH@FeOOH/CFP features enriched interfacial active sites and finely modulated electron structure, thus realizing the remarkable electrocatalytic activity and durability for water oxidation with an ultralow overpotential of only 224 mV to deliver 10 mA cm−2. Furthermore, this ultrafast interfacial reaction strategy can be expanded to construct other Ni-containing hydroxide@FeOOH hetero-interface structure, which will shed a new light on the further construction of bi/multi component hetero-structure materials in electrocatalysis and energy-related fields.