MXene-Assisted NiFe sulfides for high-performance anion exchange membrane seawater electrolysis.

Wang, Jiaqi; Liu, Yue; Yang, Ganceng; Jiao, Yanqing; Dong, Youming; Tian, Chungui; Yan, Haijing; Fu, Honggang · Nat Commun · 2025

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Anion exchange membrane seawater electrolysis is vital for future large-scale green hydrogen production, however enduring a huge challenge that lacks high-stable oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalysts. Herein, we report a robust OER electrocatalyst for AEMSE by integrating MXene (Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>) with NiFe sulfides ((Ni,Fe)S<sub>2</sub>@Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>). The strong interaction between (Ni,Fe)S<sub>2</sub> and Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub> induces electron distribution to trigger lattice oxygen mechanism, improving the intrinsic activity, and particularly prohibits the dissolution of Fe species during OER process via the Ti-O-Fe bonding effectively, achieving notable stability. Furthermore, the good retention of sulfates and the abundant groups of Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub> provide effective Cl<sup>-</sup> resistance. Accordingly, (Ni,Fe)S<sub>2</sub>@Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub> achieves high OER activity (1.598 V@2 A cm<sup>-2</sup>) and long-term durability (1000 h) in seawater system. Furthermore, AEMSE with industrial current density (0.5 A cm<sup>-2</sup>) and durability (500 h) is achieved by (Ni,Fe)S<sub>2</sub>@Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub> anode and Raney Ni cathode with electrolysis efficiency of 70% and energy consumption of 48.4 kWh kg<sup>-1</sup> H<sub>2</sub>.