Abstract
The exploitation of efficient non-precious electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction is extremely important but remains tremendously challenging. Here, we prepared a series of hierarchical urchin-like bimetallic Ni/Zn metal-organic framework nanomaterials that served as high-performance electrocatalysts, by regulating the Ni2+/Zn2+ ratio and using a facile one-step hydrothermal method for the application of the oxygen evolution reaction. The structure of the hierarchical urchin-like microspheres could improve the utilization efficiency of the active species by facilitating the diffusion of gas and reducing the transport resistance of ions, due to its features of a large interfacial area and convenient diffusion channels. In addition, we found that the higher the Ni ratio was, the better the electrocatalytic performance of these bimetallic metal-organic framework nanomaterials.
Highlights
Efficient and sustainable energy storage and conversion devices, such as water splitting, fuel cells, and metal-air batteries, are currently being extensively researched (Yan et al, 2016; Zhao et al, 2016; Xu H. et al, 2018)
The high-magnification Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images clearly show the morphologies of the hierarchical urchin-like shapes (Figure 1)
The K5 sample presents an urchin-like hierarchical microsphere with a size of 4–5 μm, which is smaller than that of the other samples. This shows that the size of the urchin-like microspheres decreases with increasing Ni content in the bimetallic Ni/Zn Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)
Summary
Efficient and sustainable energy storage and conversion devices, such as water splitting, fuel cells, and metal-air batteries, are currently being extensively researched (Yan et al, 2016; Zhao et al, 2016; Xu H. et al, 2018). A series of hierarchical urchin-like Ni/Zn bimetallic MOF nanomaterials, which acted as efficient electrocatalysts for the OER, were prepared by a facile one-step hydrothermal strategy. Through regulation of the Ni/Zn ratio, the structure of the hierarchical urchin-like MOF becomes increasingly uniform as the Ni content increases, resulting in the high electrocatalytic performances of these bimetallic MOF nanomaterials.
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