Ce dopant significantly promotes the catalytic activity of Ni foam-supported Ni3S2 electrocatalyst for alkaline oxygen evolution reaction

The incorporation with foreign elements for electrocatalysts is developed as an efficient strategy to regulate their structure and improve the activity for water electrolysis. Introducing Ce, a typical rare earth element, into Ni3S2 is realized by a facile one-step electrodeposition method to promote its activity for electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Doping Ce into Ni3S2 preserves the original morphology and structure of Ni3S2 while regulates the surface chemical states with rich active sites. As the results, better conductivity, more active sites, and larger intrinsic activity for Ce-doped Ni3S2 enhance the catalytic activity for OER. Impressively, a decrease of 87 mV to afford the current density of 50 mA cm−2 (where the overpotential is 257 mV) and a good retention in current density after 24 h’ test demonstrate the remarkable improvement in activity and durability of Ce-doped Ni3S2 in comparison with pure Ni3S2. Therefore, the facile electrodeposition method of doping Ce benefits Ni3S2 with the better activity toward OER, facilitating and accelerating the low-cost and stable water electrolysis.