Facile synthesis of amorphous bimetallic hydroxide on Fe-doped Ni3S2 as an active electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction

The design and synthesis of efficient and earth-abundant nonprecious metal electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays a vital role in electrocatalytic water splitting. Here, amorphous NiFe layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets deposited on Fe doped Ni3S2 nano-ridges (Fe-Ni3S2 @NiFe LDH) are successfully synthesized through a simple hydrothermal-electrodeposition method and are applied as OER electrocatalysts. In addition, benefiting from the abundant electroactive sites, electronic effect induced by Fe-doping and synergistic effect between NiFe LDH and Fe-Ni3S2, the as-prepared Fe-Ni3S2 @NiFe LDH heterogeneous catalyst can exhibit excellent OER performance in 1.0 M KOH solution. Fe-Ni3S2 @NiFe LDH only reach an overpotential of 192 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm− 2 with a Tafel slope of 43.1 mV dec−1. Notably, as-obtained Fe-Ni3S2 @NiFe LDH electrocatalyst only requires a low overpotential of 217 mV to achieve a current density of 50 mA cm− 2. And Fe-Ni3S2 @NiFe LDH also exhibits excellent durability at 50 mA cm−2 in 1.0 M KOH at room temperature. This study provides a feasible approach for the design of highly efficient earth-abundant nonprecious metal electrocatalysts for OER.