Ni(OH)2 Derived from NiS2 Induced by Reflux Playing Three Roles for Hydrogen/Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

Developing efficient and promising non-noble catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is vital but still a huge challenge for the clean energy system. Herein, we have integrated the active components for OER (Ni(OH)2) and HER (NiS2 and Ni(OH)2) into Ni(OH)2@NiS2 heterostructures by a facile reflux method. The in-situ formed Ni(OH)2 thin layer is coated on the surface of hollow NiS2 nanosphere. The uniform Ni(OH)2@NiS2 hollow sphere processes enlarge the electrochemically active specific surface area and enhance the intrinsic activity compared to NiS2 precursor, which affords a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at the overpotential of 309 mV and 100 mA cm−2 at 359 mV for OER. Meanwhile, Ni(OH)2@NiS2 can reach 10 mA cm−2 at 233 mV for HER, superior to pure NiS2. The enhanced performance can be attributed to the synergy between Ni(OH)2 and NiS2. Specifically, Ni(OH)2 has three functions for water splitting: providing active sites for hydrogen adsorption and hydroxyl group desorption and working as real OER active sites. Moreover, Ni(OH)2@NiS2 displays great stability for OER (50 h) and HER (30 h).