Electrical Behavior and Electron Transfer Modulation of Nickel–Copper Nanoalloys Confined in Nickel–Copper Nitrides Nanowires Array Encapsulated in Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon Framework as Robust Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Overall Water Splitting

Abstract

AbstractProbing robust electrocatalysts for overall water splitting is vital in energy conversion. However, the catalytic efficiency of reported catalysts is still limited by few active sites, low conductivity, and/or discrete electron transport. Herein, bimetallic nickel–copper (NiCu) nanoalloys confined in mesoporous nickel–copper nitride (NiCuN) nanowires array encapsulated in nitrogen‐doped carbon (NC) framework (NC–NiCu–NiCuN) is constructed by carbonization‐/nitridation‐induced in situ growth strategies. The in situ coupling of NiCu nanoalloys, NiCuN, and carbon layers through dual modulation of electrical behavior and electron transfer is not only beneficial to continuous electron transfer throughout the whole system, but also promotes the enhancement of electrical conductivity and the accessibility of active sites. Owing to strong synergetic coupling effect, such NC–NiCu–NiCuN electrocatalyst exhibits the best hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance with a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at low overpotentials of 93 mV for HER and 232 mV for OER, respectively. As expected, a two‐electrode cell using NC–NiCu–NiCuN is constructed to deliver 10 mA cm−2 water‐splitting current at low cell voltage of 1.56 V with remarkable durability over 50 h. This work serves as a promising platform to explore the design and synthesis of robust bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting.