Powder metallurgy synthesis of porous Ni-Fe alloy for oxygen evolution reaction and overall water splitting

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2019.06.021

Abstract

Abstract:

Developing inexpensive and high efficient catalysts is essential for generating oxygen and hydrogen via water splitting. Herein, based on powder metallurgy, a Ni-Fe based compound (Ni₈Fe₂ alloy) with unique porous structure and controllable phase has been designed and synthesized. Without using a solvent or template, the alloy exhibits a porous structure with uniformly distributed multi-phase. The obtained Ni₈Fe₂ alloy exhibits an efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance and good long-term stability in alkaline electrolyte (i.e. 1.0 M KOH). Additionally, an alkaline water splitting device has been assembled using porous Ni₈Fe₂ alloy as both anode and cathode materials. The system requires a cell voltage of 1.65 V to reach the 10 mA cm^-2 current density for overall water splitting and maintains good stability for 25 h. The efficient electrocatalytic performance of the Ni₈Fe₂ alloy is owing to the unique porous microstructure, increased active sites and accelerated charge transfer. Consequently, the reaction kinetics of OER are significantly promoted.

Key words: Water splitting, Oxygen evolution reaction, Ni-Fe alloy, Porous structure

Wenbo Li, Qingfeng Hu, Yunwei Liu, Mengmeng Zhang, Jiajun Wang, Xiaopeng Han, Cheng Zhong, Wenbin Hu, Yida Deng. Powder metallurgy synthesis of porous Ni-Fe alloy for oxygen evolution reaction and overall water splitting[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2020, 37: 154-160.

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1. Schematic illustrating of the preparation procedures for porous alloy.

Fig. 2. (a) XRD pattern of porous Ni8Fe2 alloy, (b) the corresponding enlarged plots of XRD pattern with the range of 40°-50°, (c) HRTEM image of porous Ni8Fe2 alloy, (d, e, f) SEM images of porous Ni8Fe2 alloy, pure Ni and pure Fe and (g) SEM image and the corresponding elemental mapping of porous Ni8Fe2 alloy (Ni and Fe).

Fig. 3. XPS spectrum of (a) Ni 2p and (b) Fe 2p in porous Ni8Fe2 alloy.

Fig. 4. (a) OER polarization curves of different samples (iR-corrected), (b) potential values for different current density after ECSA normalization, (c) Tafel curves of different samples, (d) Nyquist plots at 1.567?V for OER, (e) polarization curves of porous Ni8Fe2 alloy before and after 1500 cycles with the potential range from 1.067 to 1.867?V and (f) the corresponding chronopotentiometry curve of the Ni8Fe2 porous alloy at the constant current density of 10?mA?cm-2.

Table 1 Summarized electrochemical activities of porous Ni8Fe2 alloy, pure Ni and Fe.

Catalyst	Overpotential @10?mA?cm^-2 (mV)	Overpotential @50?mA?cm^-2 (mV)	Tafel slope (mV?dec^-1)	R_ct (Ω)	C_dl (mF?cm^-2)
Porous Ni₈Fe₂ alloy	269	298	42.5	1.01	11.8
Pure Ni	333	382	66.9	6.91	6.81
Pure Fe	377	413	50.6	-	6.55

Fig. 5. (a) Electrochemical water splitting performance of Ni8Fe2 || Ni8Fe2 system and Pt/C || RuO2 system, (b) a photograph of overall water splitting at 10?mA?cm-2, (c) long-term durability of Ni8Fe2 || Ni8Fe2 system in 1.0?M KOH for 25?h and (d) theoretical and experimental gas volume versus time for the water-splitting with porous Ni8Fe2 alloy.

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