Issue 5, 2024

F-doped NiOOH derived from progressive reconstruction for efficient and durable water oxidation

Abstract

Transition metal fluorides are efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) pre-catalysts and rapidly transform into metal (oxy)hydroxides under OER conditions. However, one of the commonest problems of dramatic reconstruction is severe structural collapse, resulting in unsatisfactory OER stability. Moreover, the role of fluorine is not fully elucidated after reconstruction and extensive leaching. Here, we present a progressive reconstruction strategy for converting the rock-like NH4NiF3 pre-catalyst into a F-doped NiOOH phase. Various in/ex situ experiments validate that the preferential electro-oxidation of NH4+, similar to a corrosion inhibitor, can slow down the reconstruction of NH4NiF3, thus ensuring sufficient time to cope with the crystal structure mismatch during the structural transition to NiOOH. Eventually, the reconstruction-derived F-doped NiOOH exhibits favorable OER performance with a low overpotential of 240 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and can be operated at 200 mA cm−2 for more than 300 h. Theoretical calculations further reveal that residual F atoms doped in the NiOOH can well tailor the electronic structure of Ni sites and reduce the energy barrier of the rate-determining step during the OER. Our findings offer unique insights into the transformation mechanism of pre-catalysts during electro-oxidation.

Graphical abstract: F-doped NiOOH derived from progressive reconstruction for efficient and durable water oxidation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Research Article
Submitted
20 Dec 2023
Accepted
17 Jan 2024
First published
18 Jan 2024

Inorg. Chem. Front., 2024,11, 1479-1491

F-doped NiOOH derived from progressive reconstruction for efficient and durable water oxidation

K. Guo, J. Jia, X. Lu, S. Wang, H. Wang, H. Wu and C. Xu, Inorg. Chem. Front., 2024, 11, 1479 DOI: 10.1039/D3QI02619A

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