Construction of a Pliable Electrode System for Effective Electrochemical Oxygen Evolution Reaction: Direct Growth of Nickel/Iron/Selenide Nanohybrids on Nickel Foil

Abstract

Numerous attempts have been made to prepare electrocatalytic nanomaterials and construct electrode systems for effective water-splitting reactions. The growth of transition metalbased heterostructures directly on specific substrates is promising for electrocatalytic applications. In the current work, nickel/iron hydroxide nanohybrids and nickel/iron/selenide nanohybrids are successfully synthesized on selected substrates such as graphite and nickel foil in solution. In particular, nickel/iron/selenide nanohybrids on nickel foil (NF-[NiFeSe]) exhibit substantially enhanced OER catalytic activity with low overpotential and Tafel slope values, as well as high durability. The use of pliable nickel foil with the direct growth of heterostructured nickel/iron/selenide nanohybrids can be employed to effectively and economically design high-performance water-splitting devices.