A corrosion-etching strategy for fabricating RuO2 coupled with defective NiFeZn(OH)x for a highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction. Issue 38 (1st September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Xiaofeng; Liu, Xupo; Zhang, Cuicui; Wang, Ran; Wei, Gangya; Yang, Tianfang; Zhang, Jing; Chen, Ye; Gao, Shuyan
• Is Part Of: Journal of materials chemistry. Volume 10:Issue 38(2022)
• Page Start: 20453
• Page End: 20463
• Publication Date: 2022-09-01
• Subjects: Materials -- Research -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Analytic -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 543.0284
• DOI: 10.1039/d2ta04789f
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-7488

Abstract

Abstract : A facile corrosion-etching strategy is applied to synthesize RuO2 coupled with defective NiFeZn(OH) x, which efficiently improves the poor intrinsic conductivity of NiFe hydroxide and reduces the kinetic energy barrier of Volmer step for HER process. Abstract : Developing cost-effective and durable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts is imperative for electrochemical water splitting. Herein, a facile corrosion-etching strategy has been applied to synthesize RuO2 coupled with defective NiFeZn(OH) x on NiFe foam (NFF) at room temperature, achieving a D/NFF-Ru-Zn electrocatalyst with abundant structural defects. Benefiting from the abundant exposed defective sites and the synergistic effect between defective NiFeZn(OH) x and RuO2, D/NFF-Ru-Zn efficiently improves the poor intrinsic conductivity of NiFe hydroxide and reduces the kinetic energy barrier of the Volmer step, thus accelerating the HER kinetics. The prepared D/NFF-Ru-Zn catalyst demonstrates excellent activity with an overpotential of 90 mV at 100 mA cm −2, as well as prominent durability of operating at 100 mA cm −2 for 100 h. Furthermore, integrated with a NiFe-OH electrode, the assembled water splitting device displays a low voltage of 1.67 V at 500 mA cm −2 . Remarkably, the corrosion-etching strategy employed in this work can be extended to other substrates ( e.g., Ni foam and Fe foam), providing a potential perspective for designing efficient HER electrocatalysts.