Interface Catalysts of Ni3Fe1 Layered Double Hydroxide and Titanium Carbide for High-Performance Water Oxidation in Alkaline and Natural Conditions

• Published in: The journal of physical chemistry letters Vol. 14; no. 24; pp. 5692 - 5700
• Main Authors: Song, Fuzhan, Debow, Shaun, Zhang, Tong, Qian, Yuqin, Huang-Fu, Zhi-Chao, Munns, Kaylee, Schmidt, Sydney, Fisher, Haley, Brown, Jesse B., Su, Yanqing, Zander, Zachary, DeLacy, Brendan G., Mirotznik, Mark S., Opila, Robert L., Rao, Yi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 22.06.2023
• Subjects: Physical Insights into Chemistry, Catalysis, and Interfaces
• ISSN: 1948-7185; 1948-7185
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c00655

The electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is important for many renewable energy technologies. Developing cost-effective electrocatalysts with high performance remains a great challenge. Here, we successfully demonstrate our novel interface catalyst comprised of Ni3Fe1-based layered double hydroxides (Ni3Fe1-LDH) vertically immobilized on a two-dimensional MXene (Ti3C2T x ) surface. The Ni3Fe1-LDH/Ti3C2T x yielded an anodic OER current of 100 mA cm–2 at 0.28 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), nearly 74 times lower than that of the pristine Ni3Fe1-LDH. Furthermore, the Ni3Fe1-LDH/Ti3C2T x catalyst requires an overpotential of only 0.31 V versus RHE to deliver an industrial-level current density as high as 1000 mA cm–2. Such excellent OER activity was attributed to the synergistic interface effect between Ni3Fe1-LDH and Ti3C2T x . Density functional theory (DFT) results further reveal that the Ti3C2T x support can efficiently accelerate the electron extraction from Ni3Fe1-LDH and tailor the electronic structure of catalytic sites, resulting in enhanced OER performance.