MoO42− doped Ni-Fe-Se nanospheres electrodeposited on nickel foam as effective electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract

• One-step electrodeposition has been applied to prepare NiFeMoSe/NF electrode. • The amorphous NiFeMoSe nanospheres were homogenously distributed on NF substrate. • The presence of MoO 4 2– doping significantly enhanced OER electrocatalytic activity. High-efficiency catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are essential for electrochemical water splitting technology to produce high-purity hydrogen. Herein, we applied a simple one-step electrodeposition method to prepare NiFe-based selenides on nickel foam and evaluated the influence of MoO 4 2− doping on the OER electrocatalytic activity. The optimized NiFeMoSe/NF nanospheres electrode exhibits an excellent OER activity with a low overpotential of 253 mV at the current density of 50 mA cm −2 and a small Tafel slope of 35.98 mV dec −1 in 1.0 M KOH, which is lower than those of NiFeSe/NF without MoO 4 2− doping (300 mV, 80 0.4 mV dec −1 ). Moreover, the long-term catalytic performance was continuously measured at 50 mA cm −2 for 20 h, the required potential remained almost unchanged, indicative of the outstanding durability and stability of the NiFeMoSe/NF electrode in alkaline medium. The enhanced electrocatalytic performance was ascribed to more catalytically active sites and faster charge transfer because of the electronic interaction of MoO 4 2− with NiFeSe.