Nickel-vanadium monolayer double hydroxide for efficient electrochemical water oxidation.

Fan, Ke; Chen, Hong; Ji, Yongfei; Huang, Hui; Claesson, Per Martin; Daniel, Quentin; Philippe, Bertrand; Rensmo, Håkan et al. · Nat Commun · 2016

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Highly active and low-cost electrocatalysts for water oxidation are required due to the demands on sustainable solar fuels; however, developing highly efficient catalysts to meet industrial requirements remains a challenge. Herein, we report a monolayer of nickel-vanadium-layered double hydroxide that shows a current density of 27 mA cm(-2) (57 mA cm(-2) after ohmic-drop correction) at an overpotential of 350 mV for water oxidation. Such performance is comparable to those of the best-performing nickel-iron-layered double hydroxides for water oxidation in alkaline media. Mechanistic studies indicate that the nickel-vanadium-layered double hydroxides can provide high intrinsic catalytic activity, mainly due to enhanced conductivity, facile electron transfer and abundant active sites. This work may expand the scope of cost-effective electrocatalysts for water splitting.