Dense Crystalline/Amorphous Phosphides/Oxides Interfacial Sites for Enhanced Industrial-Level Large Current Density Seawater Oxidation.

Zhang, Hua; Bi, Zenghui; Sun, Pengliang; Chen, Anran; Wågberg, Thomas; Hu, Xun; Liu, Xijun; Jiang, Laiming et al. · ACS Nano · 2023

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Designing high-efficiency and low-cost catalysts with high current densities for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is critical for commercial seawater electrolysis. Here, we present a heterophase synthetic strategy for constructing an electrocatalyst with dense heterogeneous interfacial sites among crystalline Ni<sub>2</sub>P, Fe<sub>2</sub>P, CeO<sub>2</sub>, and amorphous NiFeCe oxides on nickel foam (NF). The synergistic effect of high-density crystalline and amorphous heterogeneous interfaces effectively promotes the redistribution of the charge density and optimizes the adsorbed oxygen intermediates, lowering the energy barrier and promoting the O<sub>2</sub> desorption, thus enhancing the OER performance. The obtained NiFeO-CeO<sub>2</sub>/NF catalyst exhibited outstanding OER catalytic activity, with low overpotentials of 338 and 408 mV required to attain high current densities of 500 and 1000 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>, respectively, in alkaline natural seawater electrolytes. The solar-driven seawater electrolysis system presents a record-setting and stable solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of 20.10%. This work provides directives for developing highly effective and stable catalysts for large-scale clean energy production.