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Synergistic Coupling of Ni Nanoparticles with Ni 3 C Nanosheets for Highly Efficient Overall Water Splitting
Author(s) -
Wang Pengyan,
Qin Rui,
Ji Pengxia,
Pu Zonghua,
Zhu Jiawei,
Lin Can,
Zhao Yufeng,
Tang Haolin,
Li Wenqiang,
Mu Shichun
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.202001642
Subject(s) - bifunctional , oxygen evolution , water splitting , catalysis , materials science , nickel , electrolysis , nanoparticle , chemical engineering , electrolysis of water , electrolyte , alkaline water electrolysis , adsorption , hydrogen production , inorganic chemistry , electrode , nanotechnology , electrochemistry , chemistry , metallurgy , photocatalysis , organic chemistry , engineering
Exploring earth‐abundant bifunctional electrocatalysts with high efficiency for water electrolysis is extremely demanding and challenging. Herein, density functional theory (DFT) predictions reveal that coupling Ni with Ni 3 C can not only facilitate the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics, but also optimize the hydrogen adsorption and water adsorption energies. Experimentally, a facile strategy is designed to in situ fabricate Ni 3 C nanosheets on carbon cloth (CC), and simultaneously couple with Ni nanoparticles, resulting in the formation of an integrated heterostructure catalyst (Ni–Ni 3 C/CC). Benefiting from the superior intrinsic activity as well as the abundant active sites, the Ni–Ni 3 C/CC electrode demonstrates excellent bifunctional electrocatalytic activities toward the OER and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), which are superior to all the documented Ni 3 C‐based electrocatalysts in alkaline electrolytes. Specifically, the Ni–Ni 3 C/CC catalyst exhibits the low overpotentials of only 299 mV at the current density of 20 mA cm −2 for the OER and 98 mV at 10 mA cm −2 for the HER in 1 m KOH. Furthermore, the bifunctional Ni–Ni 3 C/CC catalyst can propel water electrolysis with excellent activity and nearly 100% faradic efficiency. This work highlights an easy approach for designing and constructing advanced nickel carbide‐based catalysts with high activity based on the theoretical predictions.