Handily etching nickel foams to prepare M-FeOOH/NiOOH (M=F, Cl) nanoarrays for efficient oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract

Electrocatalytic water splitting is considered as one of the promising ways to solve the energy crisis. In this paper, rapid corrosion strategies are used to prepare M-FeOOH/NiOOH (M = F, Cl) material by simple manipulation process. It is worth noting that fluorine and chlorine atoms are introduced in the corrosion process, and the influence of fluorine and chlorine on the catalytic activity of FeOOH/NiOOH material is investigated. The experimental results show that the introduction of chlorine enhances the conductivity of the FeOOH/NiOOH material and regulates the electron configuration around the active site. Density functional theory showed that the introduction of FeOOH increased the adsorption energy of water and decreased the activation energy of intermediate species. This work lays the foundation for the development of highly efficient and stable water splitting catalysts through corrosion strategies.