High current water electrolysis catalyst based on Fe/Ni(Ni/Fe) hierarchically structured electrode

Developing highly active bifunctional electrodes based on low-cost transitional metals is the most promising strategy to achieve the large-scale hydrogen production via water electrolysis using the powers generated from renewable sources. In this study, a self-supported and hierarchal structured electrode based on nickel and iron is developed as a bifunctional electrode for water electrolysis, and find that the interaction between the substrate and the active material play an important role in the obtained electrocatalytic performance. The effect of the iron-nickel hierarchal structure on the catalytic activity of hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reaction was investigated. The results show that a large operating current density for water electrolysis is achieved when iron as an active component is supported on the nickel substrate to form a hierarchically structured electrode on the surface. • Excellent comparison of catalytic performance of Fe/Ni(Ni/Fe) heterostructure electrode. • A simple one-step method was developed for industrial high current density electrodes. • This method improves the activity and stability of industrial alkaline electrolysis electrode.