Nickel foam-supported Fe,Ni-Polyporphyrin microparticles: Efficient bifunctional catalysts for overall water splitting in alkaline media

Abstract

Developing highly active, stable and sustainable electrocatalysts for overall water splitting is of great importance to generate renewable H2 for fuel cells. Herein, we report the synthesis of electrocatalytically active, nickel foam-supported, spherical core-shell Fe-poly(tetraphenylporphyrin)/Ni-poly(tetraphenylporphyrin) microparticles (FeTPP@NiTPP/NF). We also show that FeTPP@NiTPP/NF exhibits efficient bifunctional electrocatalytic properties toward both the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Electrochemical tests in KOH solution (1 M) reveal that FeTPP@NiTPP/NF electrocatalyzes the OER with 100 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of 302 mV and the HER with 10 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of 170 mV. Notably also, its catalytic performance for OER is better than that of RuO2, the benchmark OER catalyst. Although its catalytic activity for HER is slightly lower than that of Pt/C (the benchmark HER electrocatalyst), it shows greater stability than the latter during the reaction. The material also exhibits electrocatalytic activity for overall water splitting reaction at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 with a cell voltage of 1.58 V, along with a good recovery property. Additionally, the work demonstrates a new synthetic strategy to an efficient, noble metal-free-coordinated covalent organic framework (COF)-based, bifunctional electrocatalyst for water splitting.