Abstract
Developing active and stable electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is essential to enhance the efficiency of water splitting. Herein, we report a nickel/tungsten carbide (Ni/WC) composite catalyst in which WC nanoparticles are embedded underneath thin Ni layers as a highly active OER catalyst in an alkaline electrolyte. The thin Ni layer has a modulated electronic structure stemming from the interaction with the WC. The Ni/WC composite exhibits excellent OER activity and durability in a 1 M KOH solution. The turnover frequency of the Ni/WC composite (0.58 s–1) is increased by approximately 5.8 times relative to that of the Ni nanoparticles (0.10 s–1). The significant increase in catalytic activity of the Ni/WC composite can be attributed to the adsorption property change originating from the interaction between the Ni layers and the WC nanoparticles. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculation results show that the electronic structure of the N...
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