Journal Home > Volume 11 , Issue 3
Nano Research 2018, 11(3): 1664-1675 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1783-0
Research Article | Issue | Published: 02 February 2018

Amorphous NiFeB nanoparticles realizing highly active and stable oxygen evolving reaction for water splitting

Show Author's Information Guang Liu,  Dongying He,  Rui Yao,  Yong Zhao,  Jinping Li( )
Shanxi Key Laboratory of Gas Energy Efficient and Clean UtilizationResearch Institute of Special ChemicalsTaiyuan University of TechnologyTaiyuan030024China
Keywords:
electrocatalyst, water splitting, amorphous, NiFeB, oxygen evolving reaction
Cite this article:
Liu G, He D, Yao R, et al. Amorphous NiFeB nanoparticles realizing highly active and stable oxygen evolving reaction for water splitting. Nano Research, 2018, 11(3): 1664-1675. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1783-0
Download citation
EndNote(RIS)
BibTeX

583

Views

42

Downloads

Citations

130

Crossref

N/A

WoS

127

Scopus

13

CSCD

Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

The development of highly efficient and inexpensive catalysts for oxygen evolving reactions (OERs) is extremely urgent for promoting the overall efficiency of water splitting. Herein we report the fabrication of a series of amorphous NiFeB nanoparticles with varying atomic ratios of Fe to (Ni + Fe) (χFe) by a facile chemical-reduction method. The amorphous NiFeB (χFe = 0.20) nanoparticles, combining the merits of in situ formation of borate-enriched NiFeOOH catalytic surface layers, intrinsic amorphous nanostructures, and an optimized degree of Fe doping, displayed highly active electrocatalytic performance towards the OER in a broad range of pH values (from alkaline to neutral conditions). The catalyst exhibited a relatively low overpotential of 216 mV with a Tafel slope of 40 mV/dec on Ni foam and 251 mV with a Tafel slope of 43 mV/dec on glassy carbon at 10 mA/cm2 in a 1 M KOH solution, demonstrating much greater OER efficiency than that of commercial RuO2. Long-term stability testing of the OER performance of NiFeB (χFe = 0.20) by chronoamperometry (overpotential (η) = 320 mV) over 200 h revealed no evidence of degradation. Facile, scalable synthesis and highly active water oxidation make the NiFeB nanoparticles very attractive for OER electrocatalysis.


menu
Abstract
Full text
Outline
Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Amorphous NiFeB nanoparticles realizing highly active and stable oxygen evolving reaction for water splitting

Show Author's information Guang Liu, Dongying He, Rui Yao, Yong Zhao, Jinping Li( )
Shanxi Key Laboratory of Gas Energy Efficient and Clean UtilizationResearch Institute of Special ChemicalsTaiyuan University of TechnologyTaiyuan030024China

Abstract

The development of highly efficient and inexpensive catalysts for oxygen evolving reactions (OERs) is extremely urgent for promoting the overall efficiency of water splitting. Herein we report the fabrication of a series of amorphous NiFeB nanoparticles with varying atomic ratios of Fe to (Ni + Fe) (χFe) by a facile chemical-reduction method. The amorphous NiFeB (χFe = 0.20) nanoparticles, combining the merits of in situ formation of borate-enriched NiFeOOH catalytic surface layers, intrinsic amorphous nanostructures, and an optimized degree of Fe doping, displayed highly active electrocatalytic performance towards the OER in a broad range of pH values (from alkaline to neutral conditions). The catalyst exhibited a relatively low overpotential of 216 mV with a Tafel slope of 40 mV/dec on Ni foam and 251 mV with a Tafel slope of 43 mV/dec on glassy carbon at 10 mA/cm2 in a 1 M KOH solution, demonstrating much greater OER efficiency than that of commercial RuO2. Long-term stability testing of the OER performance of NiFeB (χFe = 0.20) by chronoamperometry (overpotential (η) = 320 mV) over 200 h revealed no evidence of degradation. Facile, scalable synthesis and highly active water oxidation make the NiFeB nanoparticles very attractive for OER electrocatalysis.

Keywords: electrocatalyst, water splitting, amorphous, NiFeB, oxygen evolving reaction

References(56)

1

Cook, T. R.; Dogutan, D. K.; Reece, S. Y.; Surendranath, Y.; Teets, T. S.; Nocera, D. G. Solar energy supply and storage for the legacy and nonlegacy worlds. Chem. Rev. 2010, 110, 6474-6502.
DOI Google Scholar
2

Zou, X. X.; Zhang, Y. Noble metal-free hydrogen evolution catalysts for water splitting. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2015, 44, 5148-5180.
DOI Google Scholar
3

Xu, K.; Chen, P. Z.; Li, X. L.; Tong, Y.; Ding, H.; Wu, X. J.; Chu, W. S.; Peng, Z. M.; Wu, C. Z.; Xie, Y. Metallic nickel nitride nanosheets realizing enhanced electrochemical water oxidation. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 4119-4125.
DOI Google Scholar
4

Suntivich, J.; May, K. J.; Gasteiger, H. A.; Goodenough, J. B.; Shao-Horn, Y. A perovskite oxide optimized for oxygen evolution catalysis from molecular orbital principles. Science 2011, 334, 1383-1385.
DOI Google Scholar
5

Zhang, B.; Zheng, X. L.; Voznyy, O.; Comin, R.; Bajdich, M.; García-Melchor, M.; Han, L. L.; Xu, J. X.; Liu, M.; Zheng, L. R. et al. Homogeneously dispersed multimetal oxygen-evolving catalysts. Science 2016, 352, 333-337.
DOI Google Scholar
6

Jung, S.; McCrory, C. C. L.; Ferrer, I. M.; Peters, J. C.; Jaramillo, T. F. Benchmarking nanoparticulate metal oxide electrocatalysts for the alkaline water oxidation reaction. J. Mater. Chem. A 2016, 4, 3068-3076.
DOI Google Scholar
7

Du, S. C.; Ren, Z. Y.; Zhang, J.; Wu, J.; Xi, W.; Zhu, J. Q.; Fu, H. G. Co3O4 nanocrystal ink printed on carbon fiber paper as a large-area electrode for electrochemical water splitting. Chem. Commun. 2015, 51, 8066-8069.
DOI Google Scholar
8

Risch, M.; Klingan, K.; Heidkamp, J.; Ehrenberg, D.; Chernev, P.; Zaharieva, I.; Dau, H. Nickel-oxido structure of a water-oxidizing catalyst film. Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 11912-11914.
DOI Google Scholar
9

Zhao, Y. F.; Jia, X. D.; Chen, G. B.; Shang, L.; Waterhouse, G. I. N.; Wu, L. -Z.; Tung, C. -H.; O'Hare, D.; Zhang, T. Ultrafine NiO nanosheets stabilized by TiO2 from monolayer NiTi-LDH precursors: An active water oxidation electrocatalyst. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 6517-6524.
DOI Google Scholar
10

Jiao, F.; Frei, H. Nanostructured cobalt and manganese oxide clusters as efficient water oxidation catalysts. Energy Environ. Sci. 2010, 3, 1018-1027.
DOI Google Scholar
11

Gong, M.; Dai, H. J. A mini review of nife-based materials as highly active oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalysts. Nano Res. 2015, 8, 23-39.
DOI Google Scholar
12

Wang, L. X.; Geng, J.; Wang, W. H.; Yuan, C.; Kuai, L.; Geng, B. Y. Facile synthesis of Fe/Ni bimetallic oxide solid-solution nanoparticles with superior electrocatalytic activity for oxygen evolution reaction. Nano Res. 2015, 8, 3815-3822.
DOI Google Scholar
13

Trotochaud, L.; Ranney, J. K.; Williams, K. N.; Boettcher, S. W. Solution-cast metal oxide thin film electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 17253-17261.
DOI Google Scholar
14

Liu, G.; Gao, X. S.; Wang, K. F.; He, D. Y.; Li, J. P. Uniformly mesoporous NiO/NiFe2O4 biphasic nanorods as efficient oxygen evolving catalyst for water splitting. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 2016, 41, 17976-17986.
DOI Google Scholar
15

Jiang, J.; Zhang, C. H.; Ai, L. H. Hierarchical iron nickel oxide architectures derived from metal-organic frameworks as efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction. Electrochim. Acta 2016, 208, 17-24.
DOI Google Scholar
16

Zhang, K.; Wang, W. H.; Kuai, L.; Geng, B. Y. A facile and efficient strategy to gram-scale preparation of composition-controllable Ni-Fe LDHs nanosheets for superior OER catalysis. Electrochim. Acta 2017, 225, 303-309.
DOI Google Scholar
17

Liu, G.; Gao, X. S.; Wang, K. F.; He, D. Y.; Li, J. P. Mesoporous nickel-iron binary oxide nanorods for efficient electrocatalytic water oxidation. Nano Res. 2017, 10, 2096-2105.
DOI Google Scholar
18

Li, C.; Han, X. P.; Cheng, F. Y.; Hu, Y. X.; Chen, C. C.; Chen, J. Phase and composition controllable synthesis of cobalt manganese spinel nanoparticles towards efficient oxygen electrocatalysis. Nat. Commun. 2015, 6, 7345.
DOI Google Scholar
19

Su, Y. -Z.; Xu, Q. -Z.; Chen, G. -F.; Cheng, H.; Li, N.; Liu, Z. -Q. One dimensionally spinel NiCo2O4 nanowire arrays: Facile synthesis, water oxidation, and magnetic properties. Electrochim. Acta 2015, 174, 1216-1224.
DOI Google Scholar
20

Li, L. L.; Tian, T.; Jiang, J.; Ai, L. H. Hierarchically porous Co3O4 architectures with honeycomb-like structures for efficient oxygen generation from electrochemical water splitting. J. Power Sources 2015, 294, 103-111.
DOI Google Scholar
21

Liu, G.; Wang, K. F.; Gao, X. S.; He, D. Y.; Li, J. P. Fabrication of mesoporous NiFe2O4 nanorods as efficient oxygen evolution catalyst for water splitting. Electrochim. Acta 2016, 211, 871-878.
DOI Google Scholar
22

Surendranath, Y.; Dincă, M.; Nocera, D. G. Electrolyte-dependent electrosynthesis and activity of cobalt-based water oxidation catalysts. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131, 2615-2620.
DOI Google Scholar
23

Kanan, M. W.; Surendranath, Y.; Nocera, D. G. Cobalt-phosphate oxygen-evolving compound. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2009, 38, 109-114.
DOI Google Scholar
24

Fominykh, K.; Chernev, P.; Zaharieva, I.; Sicklinger, J.; Stefanic, G.; Doblinger, M.; Müller, A.; Pokharel, A.; Bocklein, S.; Scheu, C. et al. Iron-doped nickel oxide nanocrystals as highly efficient electrocatalysts for alkaline water splitting. ACS Nano 2015, 9, 5180-5188.
DOI Google Scholar
25

Nurlaela, E.; Shinagawa, T.; Qureshi, M.; Dhawale, D. S.; Takanabe, K. Temperature dependence of electrocatalytic and photocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction rates using nife oxide. ACS Catal. 2016, 6, 1713-1722.
DOI Google Scholar
26

Wang, J. Y.; Ji, L. L.; Chen, Z. F. In situ rapid formation of a nickel-iron-based electrocatalyst for water oxidation. ACS Catal. 2016, 6, 6987-6992.
DOI Google Scholar
27

Zuo, Z. -J.; Wang, L.; Han, P. -D.; Huang, W. Insights into the reaction mechanisms of methanol decomposition, methanol oxidation and steam reforming of methanol on Cu(111): A density functional theory study. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 2014, 39, 1664-1679.
DOI Google Scholar
28

Xu, K.; Ding, H.; Lv, H. F.; Chen, P. Z.; Lu, X. L.; Cheng, H.; Zhou, T. P.; Liu, S.; Wu, X. J.; Wu, C. Z. et al. Dual electrical-behavior regulation on electrocatalysts realizing enhanced electrochemical water oxidation. Adv. Mater. 2016, 28, 3326-3332.
DOI Google Scholar
29

Jia, X. D.; Zhao, Y. F.; Chen, G. B.; Shang, L.; Shi, R.; Kang, X. F.; Waterhouse, G. I. N.; Wu, L. Z.; Tung, C. H.; Zhang, T. R. Ni3FeN nanoparticles derived from ultrathin NiFe-layered double hydroxide nanosheets: An efficient overall water splitting electrocatalyst. Adv. Energy Mater. 2016, 6, 1502585.
DOI Google Scholar
30

Stern, L. -A.; Feng, L. G.; Song, F.; Hu, X. L. Ni2P as a Janus catalyst for water splitting: The oxygen evolution activity of Ni2P nanoparticles. Energy Environ. Sci. 2015, 8, 2347-2351.
DOI Google Scholar
31

Zhou, W. J.; Wu, X. -J.; Cao, X. H.; Huang, X.; Tan, C. L.; Tian, J.; Liu, H.; Wang, J. Y.; Zhang, H. Ni3S2 nanorods/Ni foam composite electrode with low overpotential for electrocatalytic oxygen evolution. Energy Environ. Sci. 2013, 6, 2921-2924.
DOI Google Scholar
32

Gao, M. R.; Cao, X.; Gao, Q.; Xu, Y. F.; Zheng, Y. R.; Jiang, J.; Yu, S. H. Nitrogen-doped graphene supported CoSe2 nanobelt composite catalyst for efficient water oxidation. ACS Nano 2014, 8, 3970-3978.
DOI Google Scholar
33

Liao, M.; Zeng, G. F.; Luo, T. T.; Jin, Z. Y.; Wang, Y. J.; Kou, X. M.; Xiao, D. Three-dimensional coral-like cobalt selenide as an advanced electrocatalyst for highly efficient oxygen evolution reaction. Electrochim. Acta 2016, 194, 59-66.
DOI Google Scholar
34

Xu, K.; Cheng, H.; Liu, L. Q.; Lv, H. F.; Wu, X. J.; Wu, C. Z.; Xie, Y. Promoting active species generation by electrochemical activation in alkaline media for efficient electrocatalytic oxygen evolution in neutral media. Nano Lett. 2017, 17, 578-583.
DOI Google Scholar
35

Gupta, S.; Patel, N.; Fernandes, R.; Hanchate, S.; Miotello, A.; Kothari, D. Co-Mo-B nanoparticles as a non-precious and efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for hydrogen and oxygen evolution. Electrochim. Acta 2017, 232, 64-71.
DOI Google Scholar
36

Duan, J. J.; Chen, S.; Vasileff, A.; Qiao, S. Z. Anion and cation modulation in metal compounds for bifunctional overall water splitting. ACS Nano 2016, 10, 8738-8745.
DOI Google Scholar
37

Zeng, M.; Wang, H.; Zhao, C.; Wei, J. K.; Wang, W. L.; Bai, X. D. 3D graphene foam-supported cobalt phosphate and borate electrocatalysts for high-efficiency water oxidation. Sci. Bull. 2015, 60, 1426-1433.
DOI Google Scholar
38

Guo, S. J.; Yang, Y. M.; Liu, N. Y.; Qiao, S.; Huang, H.; Liu, Y.; Kang, Z. H. One-step synthesis of cobalt, nitrogen-codoped carbon as nonprecious bifunctional electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction and evolution reactions. Sci. Bull. 2016, 61, 68-77.
DOI Google Scholar
39

Bediako, D. K.; Surendranath, Y.; Nocera, D. G. Mechanistic studies of the oxygen evolution reaction mediated by a nickel-borate thin film electrocatalyst. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 3662-3674.
DOI Google Scholar
40

Dincă, M.; Surendranath, Y.; Nocera, D. G. Nickel-borate oxygen-evolving catalyst that functions under benign conditions. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2010, 107, 10337-10341.
DOI Google Scholar
41

Masa, J.; Weide, P.; Peeters, D.; Sinev, I.; Xia, W.; Sun, Z. Y.; Somsen, C.; Muhler, M.; Schuhmann, W. Amorphous cobalt boride (Co2B) as a highly efficient nonprecious catalyst for electrochemical water splitting: Oxygen and hydrogen evolution. Adv. Energy Mater. 2016, 6, 1502313.
DOI Google Scholar
42

Chen, P. Z.; Xu, K.; Zhou, T. P.; Tong, Y.; Wu, J. C.; Cheng, H.; Lu, X. L.; Ding, H.; Wu, C. Z.; Xie, Y. Strong-coupled cobalt borate nanosheets/graphene hybrid as electrocatalyst for water oxidation under both alkaline and neutral conditions. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 2488-2492.
DOI Google Scholar
43

Indra, A.; Menezes, P. W.; Sahraie, N. R.; Bergmann, A.; Das, C.; Tallarida, M.; Schmeiβer, D.; Strasser, P.; Driess, M. Unification of catalytic water oxidation and oxygen reduction reactions: Amorphous beat crystalline cobalt iron oxides. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 17530-17536.
DOI Google Scholar
44

Bergmann, A.; Martinez-Moreno, E.; Teschner, D.; Chernev, P.; Gliech, M.; de Araújo, J. F.; Reier, T.; Dau, H.; Strasser, P. Reversible amorphization and the catalytically active state of crystalline Co3O4 during oxygen evolution. Nat. Commun. 2015, 6, 8625.
DOI Google Scholar
45

Li, F. W.; Zhao, S. -F.; Chen, L.; Khan, A.; MacFarlane, D. R.; Zhang, J. Polyethylenimine promoted electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to CO in aqueous medium by graphene-supported amorphous molybdenum sulphide. Energy Environ. Sci. 2016, 9, 216-223.
DOI Google Scholar
46

Yan, X. D.; Tian, L. H.; He, M.; Chen, X. B. Three-dimensional crystalline/amorphous Co/Co3O4 core/shell nanosheets as efficient electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Nano Lett. 2015, 15, 6015-6021.
DOI Google Scholar
47

Irshad, A.; Munichandraiah, N. High catalytic activity of amorphous ir-pi for oxygen evolution reaction. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2015, 7, 15765-15776.
DOI Google Scholar
48

Long, X.; Li, J. K.; Xiao, S.; Yan, K. Y.; Wang, Z. L.; Chen, H. N.; Yang, S. H. A strongly coupled graphene and FeNi double hydroxide hybrid as an excellent electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 7584-7588.
DOI Google Scholar
49

McCrory, C. C. L.; Jung, S.; Peters, J. C.; Jaramillo, T. F. Benchmarking heterogeneous electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 16977-16987.
DOI Google Scholar
50

Liu, G.; Qiu, F. Y.; Li, J.; Wang, Y. J.; Li, L.; Yan, C.; Jiao, L. F.; Yuan, H. T. NiB nanoparticles: A new nickel-based catalyst for hydrogen storage properties of MgH2. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 2012, 37, 17111-17117.
DOI Google Scholar
51

Biesinger, M. C.; Payne, B. P.; Lau, L. W. M.; Gerson, A.; Smart, R. S. C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic chemical state quantification of mixed nickel metal, oxide and hydroxide systems. Surf. Interface Anal. 2009, 41, 324-332.
DOI Google Scholar
52

Grosvenor, A. P.; Kobe, B. A.; Biesinger, M. C.; McIntyre, N. S. Investigation of multiplet splitting of Fe 2p XPS spectra and bonding in iron compounds. Surf. Interface Anal. 2004, 36, 1564-1574.
DOI Google Scholar
53

Chen, Y. -W.; Sasirekha, N. Preparation of NiFeB nanoalloy catalysts and their applications in liquid-phase hydrogenation of p-chloronitrobenzene. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2009, 48, 6248-6255.
DOI Google Scholar
54

Zhao, Q.; Yu, Z. B.; Yuan, W.; Li, J. P. A WO3/Ag-Bi oxygen-evolution catalyst for splitting water under mild conditions. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 2012, 37, 13249-13255.
DOI Google Scholar
55

Wang, W.; Zhao, Q.; Dong, J. X.; Li, J. P. A novel silver oxides oxygen evolving catalyst for water splitting. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 2011, 36, 7374-7380.
DOI Google Scholar
56

Bediako, D. K.; Lassalle-Kaiser, B.; Surendranath, Y.; Yano, J.; Yachandra, V. K.; Nocera, D. G. Structure-activity correlations in a nickel-borate oxygen evolution catalyst. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 6801-6809.
DOI Google Scholar
File
12274_2017_1783_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (5 MB)
Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 09 June 2017
Revised: 18 July 2017
Accepted: 28 July 2017
Published: 02 February 2018
Issue date: March 2018

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

We appreciate the financial funding supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51402205), Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi (No. 2015021058) and Scientific and Technological Innovation Programs of Higher Education Institutions in Shanxi (No. STIP-2016131).

Return