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Facile Access to an Active γ‐NiOOH Electrocatalyst for Durable Water Oxidation Derived From an Intermetallic Nickel Germanide Precursor
Author(s) -
Menezes Prashanth W.,
Yao Shenglai,
BeltránSuito Rodrigo,
Hausmann J. Niklas,
Menezes Pramod V.,
Driess Matthias
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.202014331
Subject(s) - intermetallic , oxygen evolution , nickel , electrocatalyst , catalysis , materials science , chemical engineering , germanide , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , metallurgy , electrochemistry , electrode , alloy , organic chemistry , silicon , engineering , germanium
Identifying novel classes of precatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER by water oxidation) with enhanced catalytic activity and stability is a key strategy to enable chemical energy conversion. The vast chemical space of intermetallic phases offers plenty of opportunities to discover OER electrocatalysts with improved performance. Herein we report intermetallic nickel germanide (NiGe) acting as a superior activity and durable Ni‐based electro(pre)catalyst for OER. It is produced from a molecular bis(germylene)‐Ni precursor. The ultra‐small NiGe nanocrystals deposited on both nickel foam and fluorinated tin oxide (FTO) electrodes showed lower overpotentials and a durability of over three weeks (505 h) in comparison to the state‐of‐the‐art Ni‐, Co‐, Fe‐, and benchmark NiFe‐based electrocatalysts under identical alkaline OER conditions. In contrast to other Ni‐based intermetallic precatalysts under alkaline OER conditions, an unexpected electroconversion of NiGe into γ‐Ni III OOH with intercalated OH − /CO 3 2− transpired that served as a highly active structure as shown by various ex situ methods and quasi in situ Raman spectroscopy.