Enabling efficient ample-level oxygen evolution on nickel-iron Prussian blue analogue/hydroxide via hierarchical mass transfer channel construction

Shixin Sun; Yinghua Guo; Guodong Xu; Jing Li; Weiwei Cai

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.12.138

Enabling efficient ample-level oxygen evolution on nickel-iron Prussian blue analogue/hydroxide via hierarchical mass transfer channel construction

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2024 Apr:659:40-47. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.12.138. Epub 2023 Dec 24.

Authors

Shixin Sun¹, Yinghua Guo², Guodong Xu³, Jing Li⁴, Weiwei Cai⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Yancheng Teachers University, Yancheng 224002, China.
² Hydrogen Energy Technology Innovation Center of Hubei Province, Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China.
³ School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Yancheng Teachers University, Yancheng 224002, China. Electronic address: xuguodong003@gmail.com.
⁴ Hydrogen Energy Technology Innovation Center of Hubei Province, Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China. Electronic address: kinijing1984@gmail.com.
⁵ Hydrogen Energy Technology Innovation Center of Hubei Province, Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China. Electronic address: willcai1985@gmail.com.

PMID: 38157725
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.12.138

Abstract

Enhancing double-phase mass transfer capability and reducing overpotential at high currents are critical in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst design. In this work, nickel-iron layered double hydroxide (NiFe-LDH) loaded on nickel foam (NF) was used as a self-sacrificing template for subsequent growth of nickel-iron Prussian blue (NiFe-PBA) hollow nanocubes on its sheet arrays. The triple-scale porous structure is therefore in-situ constructed in the produced NiFe-PBA@LDH/NF catalyst, where NiFe-PBA nanocubes, NiFe-LDH sheets and NF skeletons provide pores at hundred-nanometers, microns and hundred-microns, respectively. Due to the successful construction of hierarchical mass transfer channels in the catalyst, the overpotential required to deliver 1000 mA cm^-2 OER is only 396 mV, which is 80 mV lower than that of NiFe-LDH/NF with a double-scale porous structure, manifesting the importance of the appropriate mass transfer channels, promoting the potential application of the NiFe-PBA@LDH/NF catalyst in industrial-scale electrolysers.

Keywords: Hierarchical mass transfer channel; High current; Nickel-iron Prussian blue; Nickel-iron layered double hydroxide; Oxygen evolution reaction.