Tuning the interfacial electronic coupling of NiO via CeO2 and nitrogen co-decoration for highly efficient oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract

• CeO 2 and nitrogen co-decoration are proposed to boost the OER activity of NiO. • The strong electron coupling among Ce/N-NiO can induce the rich Ni 3+ surface. • The surface electron reconfiguration energetically promotes the adsorption of OH – . • Ce/N-NiO shows superior OER property with a low overpotential of 250 mV. • The OER activity of Ce/N-NiO outstrips RuO 2 at high current density. Nickel oxide (NiO) has emerged as a promising electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysis but undergoes insufficient active sites and unfavorable OH – adsorption properties. Herein, we develop an effective CeO 2 and nitrogen co-decoration strategy to boost the OER performance of NiO (Ce/N-NiO) nanoparticles dramatically. The strong electron coupling among Ce/N-NiO nanoparticles provide exceptional facilities for the interface electron transfer from nitrogen-doped NiO to CeO 2 , and further induces the formation of rich Ni 3+ surface, endowing it with abundant active sites. Besides, the surface electron reconfiguration energetically promotes the adsorption of OH – , resulting in fast reaction kinetics. As expected, the Ce/N-NiO sample shows superior OER property with a low overpotential of 250 mV at 10 mA cm −2 . Particularly, when the current density exceeds 90 mA cm −2 , the OER activity of Ce/N-NiO outstrips noble-metal-based RuO 2 . This co-decoration approach provides a practical guide for designing high-performance catalysts for OER and beyond.