High active and ultra-stable bifunctional FeNi/CNT electrocatalyst for overall water splitting

Abstract

Efficient non-noble metal catalysts are desirable to greatly improve the efficiency of anodic oxygen evolution and cathodic hydrogen evolution reactions. Herein, iron-nickel/carbon nanotube composites are synthesized as efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts for water splitting. The catalyst is homogeneously distributed, while the formation of iron-nickel alloy is confirmed. Because of the synergism of iron and copper and the contribution of carbon nanotubes, the Fe–Ni/CNT electrocatalyst shows excellent oxygen evolution reaction performance with the overpotential of 221 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and maintains stable at 0.48 V for 150 h. It expedites overall water splitting at 10 mA cm−2 with 1.50 V and show excellent stability at 20 mA cm−2 for 65 h, providing great potential for large-scale applications.