Non-noble metal-nitride based electrocatalysts for high-performance alkaline seawater electrolysis

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 5106 - 10
• Main Authors: Yu, Luo, Zhu, Qing, Song, Shaowei, McElhenny, Brian, Wang, Dezhi, Wu, Chunzheng, Qin, Zhaojun, Bao, Jiming, Yu, Ying, Chen, Shuo, Ren, Zhifeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 08.11.2019; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/146; 147/135; 147/143; 639/301/299/886; 639/638/161/886; 639/638/298; 639/925/357; Catalysts; Clean energy; Desalination; Electrocatalysts; Electrolysis; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrogen; Hydrogen evolution reactions; Hydrogen production; Hydrogen-based energy; Metal foams; Metal nitrides; Metals; multidisciplinary; Nanoparticles; Nanorods; Natural resources; Noble metals; Oxygen evolution reactions; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Seawater; Splitting
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13092-7

Seawater is one of the most abundant natural resources on our planet. Electrolysis of seawater is not only a promising approach to produce clean hydrogen energy, but also of great significance to seawater desalination. The implementation of seawater electrolysis requires robust and efficient electrocatalysts that can sustain seawater splitting without chloride corrosion, especially for the anode. Here we report a three-dimensional core-shell metal-nitride catalyst consisting of NiFeN nanoparticles uniformly decorated on NiMoN nanorods supported on Ni foam, which serves as an eminently active and durable oxygen evolution reaction catalyst for alkaline seawater electrolysis. Combined with an efficient hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst of NiMoN nanorods, we have achieved the industrially required current densities of 500 and 1000 mA cm −2 at record low voltages of 1.608 and 1.709 V, respectively, for overall alkaline seawater splitting at 60 °C. This discovery significantly advances the development of seawater electrolysis for large-scale hydrogen production. Seawater electrolysis is a promising approach to produce hydrogen fuel and is also of great significance to seawater desalination. Here, the authors prepare 3D core-shell metal-nitride catalysts from earth-abundant elements for high-performance alkaline seawater electrolysis.