Construction of Fe-Co-Ni-Sx/NF nanomaterial as bifunctional electrocatalysts for water splitting

• Published in: Materials letters Vol. 311; p. 131549
• Main Authors: Zhu, Shasha, Lei, Jinglei, Wu, Shengmao, Liu, Lei, Chen, Tianming, Yuan, Ye, Ding, Cheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 15.03.2022; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Catalytic activity; Chemical synthesis; Cobalt; Current density; Electrocatalysts; Electrodes; Ethylenediamine; Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acids; HER; Hydrothermal reactions; Iron; Materials science; Metal sulfides; Nanocomposites; Nanomaterials; Nickel; OER; Porous materials; Substrates; Transition metals; Water splitting; Water splitting; HER; Nanocomposites; OER; Porous materials
• ISSN: 0167-577X; 1873-4979
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matlet.2021.131549

•Fe-Co-Ni-Sx/NF is prepared by simple two-step hydrothermal and one-step annealing method.•Fe-Co-Ni-Sx/NF shows loose and porous structure.•The overpotential of Fe-Co-Ni-Sx/NF at 10 mA cm−2 is 188 mV for HER.•The overpotential of Fe-Co-Ni-Sx/NF is 280 mV at 10 mA cm−2 for OER.•Polymetallic interaction can improve the catalytic activity of Fe-Co-Ni-Sx/NF. Development of efficient and earth-abundant electrocatalyst for water splitting is necessary and significance. Herein, a Fe-Co-Ni-Sx/NF electrode was synthesized through hydrothermal reaction and calcination method. The Fe-Co-Ni-Sx/NF evenly distribute on the NF substrate under the action of ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA). Fe-Co-Ni-Sx/NF electrode has excellent catalytic activity. The overpotential is 209 mV for HER, and 280 mV for OER at current density of 10 mA cm−2. The test result of two-electrode system shows that the cell potential of 1.70 V is required to reach the current density of 10 mA cm−2. The preparation strategy of Fe-Co-Ni-Sx/NF can improve the catalytic activity of transition metal sulfides, which has profound significance to further improve the catalytic activity of the catalyst.