Value added transformation of ubiquitous substrates into highly efficient and flexible electrodes for water splitting.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29789569.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-04358-7 and PMC identifier 5964234.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Herein, we present an innovative approach for transforming commonly available cellulose paper into a flexible and catalytic current collector for overall water splitting. A solution processed soak-and-coat method of electroless plating was used to render a piece of paper conducting by conformably depositing metallic nickel nanoparticles, while still retaining the open macroporous framework. Proof-of-concept paper-electrodes are realized by modifying nickel-paper current collector with model electrocatalysts nickel-iron oxyhydroxide and nickel-molybdenum bimetallic alloy through electrodeposition route. The paper-electrodes demonstrate exceptional activities towards oxygen evolution reaction and hydrogen evolution reaction, requiring overpotentials of 240 and 32 mV at 50 and -10 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>, respectively, even as they endure extreme mechanical stress. The generality of this approach is demonstrated by fabricating similar electrodes on cotton fabric, which also show high activity. Finally, a two-electrode paper-electrolyzer is constructed which can split water with an efficiency of 98.01%, and exhibits robust stability for more than 200 h.