The decoration of NiFe layered-double-hydroxide/NiFe nanoalloy grown in a corrosion-cell by MoS2 nanosheets as a binder-free electrode for efficient overall water splitting

Abstract

Nickel-Iron layered double hydroxides (NiFe-LDH) prepared by corrosion engineering has been proven effective for electrochemical overall water splitting, but the growth mechanism is still controversial. In this work, nano-Fe (0) powder was used as the iron substrate to produce NiFe nanoalloy under corrosion conditions as the corrosion-cell cathode, and then NiFe-LDH nanosheets were deposited. The NiFe-LDH/NiFe nanoalloy particles were captured on carbon cloth by a "network" structure by interlacing MoS2 layers, creating a binder-free self-supporting electrode (MoS2/NiFe-LDH/NF-NP/CC). The MoS2/NiFe-LDH/NF-NP/CC exhibited excellent overall water splitting performance, with a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at a voltage of only 1.52 V, owing to the abundant HER active sites at the edge of MoS2 nanosheets, the high conductivity and OER properties of the NiFe-LDH/NiFe nanoalloy, as well as the effective 3D heterojunction structure.