Electronically modulated nickel boron by CeOx doping as a highly efficient electrocatalyst towards overall water splitting

Huimin Wang; Huixiang Liu; Tao Feng; Lincai Wang; Wenyi Yuan; Qing Huang; Yanhui Guo

doi:10.1039/d1dt03278j

Electronically modulated nickel boron by CeO_x doping as a highly efficient electrocatalyst towards overall water splitting

Dalton Trans. 2022 Jan 4;51(2):675-684. doi: 10.1039/d1dt03278j.

Authors

Huimin Wang¹, Huixiang Liu², Tao Feng¹, Lincai Wang¹, Wenyi Yuan¹, Qing Huang¹, Yanhui Guo²

Affiliations

¹ Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Centre for WEEE Recycling, Shanghai Polytechnic University, Shanghai, 201209, P.R. China. lcwang@sspu.edu.cn.
² Department of Materials Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, P.R. China. gyh@fudan.edu.cn.

PMID: 34908068
DOI: 10.1039/d1dt03278j

Abstract

Exploiting economic, efficient and durable non-noble metal electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is promising, but still faces enormous challenges. Herein, the strategy of doping a metal boride with a rare earth metal oxide has been explored to develop a highly efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst. The novel electrocatalyst CeO_x-NiB consists of CeO_x-doped NiB supported on nickel foam, and was fabricated by a one-step mild electroless plating reaction. Remarkably, the CeO_x-NiB@NF electrode delivers a current density of 10 mA cm^-2 at overpotentials of only 19 mV and 274 mV for the HER and OER, respectively. Two-electrode electrolyzers with the CeO_x-NiB@NF electrode require only 1.424 V to deliver 10 mA cm^-2 for overall water splitting in 1.0 M KOH, outperforming the Pt-C/NF∥IrO₂/NF electrolyzer. Meanwhile, the electrode also has good stability (can work for 100 hours at 10 mA cm^-2) and industrial-grade current density. This work provides a new idea for the development of efficient and durable non-precious metal catalysts.