Interface engineering of bifunctional nickel hydroxide/ nickel phosphide heterostructure for efficient intermittent hydrazine-assisted water splitting

Abstract

Hydrazine oxidation reaction (HzOR) has been proposed to replace the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for energy-saving hydrogen generation. However, the rational design of bifunctional electrocatalysts that can simultaneously accelerate HER/HzOR kinetics and the source of the hydrazine chemical substrate are still challenging. Herein, interfacial heterogeneous nickel hydroxide/nickel phosphide microstructures are in-situ grown on nickel foam (Ni(OH)2/Ni2P/NF) via a combined electrodeposition-phosphorization-electrodeposition strategy. After Ni(OH)2 modification, a charge redistribution is triggered between Ni(OH)2 and Ni2P, reducing the charge-transfer resistance and optimizing the adsorption energy of reaction intermediates. Ni(OH)2/Ni2P/NF thus yields an impressive bifunctional electrocatalytic activity for HER and HzOR with potentials of −72 and −14 mV at 10 mA cm−2, respectively. When using Ni(OH)2/Ni2P/NF as both electrodes, decreased cell voltage of 0.357 V is required to drive a current density of 100 mA cm−2 in 0.5 M hydrazine-containing alkaline electrolyte. Furthermore, an intermittent hydrazine-assisted water electrolysis system is proposed to make the combination of hydrazine sewage purification and energy-saving hydrogen production realistic.