Iron-Doped carbon supported nickel selenide heterogeneous materials for Dual-Function water electrolysis catalysts

Abstract

Developing efficient, economical, and resource-abundant dual-function electrocatalysts for water splitting is crucial. In this study, uniform growth of NiSex nanocrystals on Fe-doped XC-72 carbon (NS/XC-Fe) was achieved through a solvothermal method, resulting in the formation of a composite material with outstanding performance. NS/XC-Fe exhibits excellent catalytic performance for both oxygen evolution reaction (OER) (261 mV, 10 mA·cm−2) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) (275 mV, 10 mA·cm−2) under alkaline conditions, owing to the introduction of iron and the construction of heterogeneous interfaces. Additionally, NS/XC-Fe exhibited excellent stability during the 24 h polarization test. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations indicated that the introduction of iron optimized the catalyst’s H adsorption capability, while the construction of heterogeneous interfaces lowered the energy barrier of the rate-determining step. This demonstrates the significant potential of NS/XC-Fe as an electrocatalyst, providing new insights for the design and synthesis of efficient bifunctional electrochemical water splitting catalysts.