In Situ Fast Construction of Ni3 S4 /FeS Catalysts on 3D Foam Structure Achieving Stable Large-Current-Density Water Oxidation

Small. 2023 Dec 27:e2308371. doi: 10.1002/smll.202308371. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

By increasing the content of Ni3+ , the catalytic activity of nickel-based catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which is still problematic with current synthesis routes, can be increased. Herein, a Ni3+ -rich of Ni3 S4 /FeS on FeNi Foam (Ni3 S4 /FeS@FNF) via anodic electrodeposition to direct obtain high valence metal ions for OER catalyst is presented. XPS showed that the introduction of Fe not only further increased the Ni3+ concentration in Ni3 S4 /FeS to 95.02%, but also inhibited the dissolution of NiOOH by up to seven times. Furthermore, the OER kinetics is enhanced by the combination of the inner Ni3 S4 /FeS heterostructures and the electrochemically induced surface layers of oxides/hydroxides. Ni3 S4 /FeS@FNF shows the most excellent OER activity with a low Tafel slope of 11.2 mV dec-1 and overpotentials of 196 and 445 mV at current densities of 10 and 1400 mA cm-2 , respectively. Furthermore, the Ni3 S4 /FeS@FNF catalyst can be operated stably at 1500 mA cm-2 for 200 h without significant performance degradation. In conclusion, this work has significantly increased the high activity Ni3+ content in nickel-based OER electrocatalysts through an anodic electrodeposition strategy. The preparation process is time-saving and mature, which is expected to be applied in large-scale industrialization.

Keywords: Ni3S4/FeS; anodic electrodeposition; oxygen evolution reaction.