Interfacial interaction between NiMoP and NiFe-LDH to regulate the electronic structure toward high-efficiency electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract

Development of low-cost, high-efficiency electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is challenging, even though it is critical for the overall electrochemical splitting. Herein, we report a NiMoP@NiFe-LDH heterostructure electrode supported on nickel foam. The study shows that the electrocatalytic activity for the OER can be improved by coupling NiMoP and NiFe-LDH. The resulting NiMoP@NiFe-LDH heterostructure exhibited remarkable catalytic performance with an ultralow overpotential of only 299 mV at a current density of 150 mA cm −2 and a Tafel slope of 23.3 mV dec −1 in 1.0 M KOH solution. Electron transfer from NiFe-LDH to NiMoP at the nanointerface reduces the energy barrier of the catalytic process, thus improving the OER activity performance. Thus, high-efficiency electrocatalysts can be utilised by constructing heterojunctions to regulate the electronic structure at the interface of the electrocatalysts. Interfacial electronic structure Regulation: The NiMoP@NiFe-LDH heterostructure electrode was successfully fabricated by a series of successive procedures (hydrothermal, phosphorisation, and electrodeposition). The enhanced OER activity of the electrocatalyst was attributed to nanointerfacial interaction between the NiMoP nanowires and the NiFe-LDH nanosheets, which reduces the energy barrier of the catalytic process, thus improving the electrocatalytic performance. • Heterostructure electrocatalyst that NiMoP nanowires coupled with NiFe-LDH nanosheets was constructed. • This heterostructure electrocatalyst exhibits very remarkable OER activity and shows excellent stability. • Electronic interaction at the nanointerface of the heterojunction enhances the intrinsic activity of electrode.