Premium
Ultrathin High Surface Area Nickel Boride (Ni x B) Nanosheets as Highly Efficient Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Evolution
Author(s) -
Masa Justus,
Sinev Ilya,
Mistry Hemma,
Ventosa Edgar,
de la Mata Maria,
Arbiol Jordi,
Muhler Martin,
Roldan Cuenya Beatriz,
Schuhmann Wolfgang
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
advanced energy materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.08
H-Index - 220
eISSN - 1614-6840
pISSN - 1614-6832
DOI - 10.1002/aenm.201700381
Subject(s) - oxygen evolution , overpotential , materials science , electrocatalyst , catalysis , nickel , water splitting , non blocking i/o , boride , chemical engineering , amorphous solid , inorganic chemistry , electrochemistry , metallurgy , chemistry , electrode , crystallography , biochemistry , photocatalysis , engineering
The overriding obstacle to mass production of hydrogen from water as the premium fuel for powering our planet is the frustratingly slow kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Additionally, inadequate understanding of the key barriers of the OER is a hindrance to insightful design of advanced OER catalysts. This study presents ultrathin amorphous high‐surface area nickel boride (Ni x B) nanosheets as a low‐cost, very efficient and stable catalyst for the OER for electrochemical water splitting. The catalyst affords 10 mA cm −2 at 0.38 V overpotential during OER in 1.0 m KOH, reducing to only 0.28 V at 20 mA cm −2 when supported on nickel foam, which ranks it among the best reported nonprecious catalysts for oxygen evolution. Operando X‐ray absorption fine‐structure spectroscopy measurements reveal prevalence of NiOOH, as well as Ni‐B under OER conditions, owing to a Ni‐B core@nickel oxyhydroxide shell (Ni‐B@NiO x H) structure, and increase in disorder of the NiO x H layer, thus revealing important insight into the transient states of the catalyst during oxygen evolution.