Tailoring the Heterointerfaces of Earth-Abundant Transition-Metal Nanoclusters on Nickel Oxide Nanosheets for Enhanced Overall Water Splitting through Electronic Structure Optimization.

Abstract

Evolving highly competent and economical electrocatalysts for alkaline water electrolysis is crucial in renewable hydrogen energy technologies. The slow hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)/oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics under alkaline electrolytes, still, has troubled developments in high-performance green hydrogen production systems. Herein, we demonstrate the tailoring of the interface of earth-abundant transition-metal nanoclusters (MNCs), including iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), and copper (Cu) nanoclusters on nickel oxide nanosheets (M NCs|NiO NS) through metal-support interaction for enriched overall water splitting under an alkaline electrolyte. The strong metal-metal oxide interaction allows alteration of the binding capabilities of hydrogen ions (*H) and hydroxyl ions (*OH) on Ni electrodes. Specifically, the robust interaction between Fe and NiO reveals optimized binding of H* and OH* energies, facilitating the water-splitting reaction under an alkaline electrolyte. In addition, the improved HER/OER catalytic activity is attained with the Fe NCs|NiO NS with small overpotentials of ∼62.0 and ∼380.0 mV for the HER and OER, respectively, a high mass activity of ∼90.0 A g-1, a turnover frequency of ∼5.94 s-1, and long-lasting stability via offering abundant electrochemical active sites, three-dimensional (3D) morphologies, and high dispersion of nanoclusters that provide effective charge and mass transport processes. This study provides a promising strategy for the effective design of efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts based on earth-abundant materials for alkaline water electrolyzers.