Construction of Mo-CoNiFe-S/NF and its outstanding electrocatalytic performance in the oxygen evolution reaction
摘要
The development of non-noble metal oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts that combine low overpotential and long-term cycling stability at high current densities is key to overcoming the bottleneck in water electrolysis for hydrogen production technology. This work successfully prepared a molybdenum-doped cobalt-nickel-iron based sulfide catalyst (Mo-CoNiFe-S/NF) on nickel foam (NF) through a synergistic strategy involving two-step electrodeposition combined with hydrothermal sulfurization. This catalyst demonstrates outstanding OER catalytic performance in 1 mol/L KOH solution: it requires an overpotential of only 69.7 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA cm⁻², and a low overpotential of 346.3 mV at 100 mA cm⁻², with a Tafel slope as low as 37.3 mV dec⁻¹. These metrics are significantly superior to those of the molybdenum-undoped CoNiFe-S/NF and pure NF catalysts. This catalyst exhibits excellent potential for industrial application: operating continuously at a current density of 50 mA cm⁻² for 24 h, the current density decayed only from 50 mA cm⁻² to 48.8 mA cm⁻², representing a decay rate of merely 2.4%, while achieving a high Faraday efficiency of 95.36%. The doping with trace amounts of molybdenum and the sulfurization treatment enhance catalytic performance through multiple pathways: constructing a Ni₃S₂/(Co, Ni)₃S₄/FeS multiphase composite system to leverage component synergy; forming an interconnected network-like porous structure to expand the electrochemical active surface area (Cdl reaching 26.6 mF cm⁻²); and inducing electronic reconstruction to increase the electron density of active metal sites, thereby optimizing the adsorption-desorption kinetics of oxygen intermediates.