Nitrogen-doped Fe2O3/NiTe2 as an excellent bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting

Wenjing Li; Yuqing Deng; Li Luo; Yeshuang Du; Xiaohong Cheng; Qi Wu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.02.071

Nitrogen-doped Fe₂O₃/NiTe₂ as an excellent bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Jun:639:416-423. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.02.071. Epub 2023 Feb 16.

Authors

Wenjing Li¹, Yuqing Deng¹, Li Luo¹, Yeshuang Du¹, Xiaohong Cheng², Qi Wu³

Affiliations

¹ Hubei Key Laboratory of Pollutant Analysis & Reuse Technology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hubei Normal University, Huangshi 435002, China.
² Hubei Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang 441053, China. Electronic address: chengxiaohong0807@126.com.
³ Hubei Key Laboratory of Pollutant Analysis & Reuse Technology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hubei Normal University, Huangshi 435002, China. Electronic address: wuqi2011@whu.edu.cn.

PMID: 36812857
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.02.071

Abstract

The development of inexpensive, high efficiency electrocatalysts is a major challenge for electrolytic water to hydrogen production. Herein, an efficient porous nanoblock catalyst N-doped Fe₂O₃/NiTe₂ heterojunction for overall water splitting is reported. Notably, the obtained 3D self-supported catalysts exhibit good hydrogen evolution. reaction (HER) activity and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) properties in alkaline solution (only 70 mV and 253 mV of overpotential are needed to provide 10 mA cm^-2 current density, respectively). This is mainly due to the N-doped electronic structure optimized, the strong electronic interaction between Fe₂O₃ and NiTe₂ that facilitates rapid electron transfer, the porous structure which allows the catalyst to have large surface area for effective gas release, and their synergistic effect. When used as a dual function catalyst with overall water splitting, it achieved a current density of 10 mA cm^-2 under 1.54 V with good durability (at least 42 h). The present work provides a new methodology for the study of high-performance, low-cost, and corrosion-resistant bifunctional electrocatalysts.

Keywords: Bifunctional; Nitrogen-doped; electrocatalyst; electronic interaction; water splitting.