A Superaerophobic Bimetallic Selenides Heterostructure for Efficient Industrial-Level Oxygen Evolution at Ultra-High Current Densities

• Main Authors: Jiaxin Yuan, Xiaodi Cheng, Hanqing Wang, Chaojun Lei, Sameer Pardiwala, Bin Yang, Zhongjian Li, Qinghua Zhang, Lecheng Lei, Shaobin Wang, Yang Hou
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SpringerOpen 2020-05-01
• Series: Nano-Micro Letters
• Subjects: Superaerophobicity; Bimetallic selenide; Heterostructure electrocatalyst; Strong interfacial coupling; Oxygen evolution reaction
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40820-020-00442-0
• ISSN: 2311-6706; 2150-5551

Abstract Cost-effective and stable electrocatalysts with ultra-high current densities for electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are critical to the energy crisis and environmental pollution. Herein, we report a superaerophobic three dimensional (3D) heterostructured nanowrinkles of bimetallic selenides consisting of crystalline NiSe2 and NiFe2Se4 grown on NiFe alloy (NiSe2/NiFe2Se4@NiFe) prepared by a thermal selenization procedure. In this unique 3D heterostructure, numerous nanowrinkles of NiSe2/NiFe2Se4 hybrid with a thickness of ~ 100 nm are grown on NiFe alloy in a uniform manner. Profiting by the large active surface area and high electronic conductivity, the superaerophobic NiSe2/NiFe2Se4@NiFe heterostructure exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity and durability towards OER in alkaline media, outputting the low potentials of 1.53 and 1.54 V to achieve ultra-high current densities of 500 and 1000 mA cm−2, respectively, which is among the most active Ni/Fe-based selenides, and even superior to the benchmark Ir/C catalyst. The in-situ derived FeOOH and NiOOH species from NiSe2/NiFe2Se4@NiFe are deemed to be efficient active sites for OER.