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Journal of Advanced Ceramics 2023, 12(3): 553-564 https://doi.org/10.26599/JAC.2023.9220704
Research Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 16 February 2023

Honeycomb-like MXene/NiFePx–NC with "continuous" single-crystal enabling high activity and robust durability in electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reactions

Show Author's Information Xiaojun Zenga,c,†( ),  Yifei Yea,†,  Yongqing Wanga( ),  Ronghai Yub,  Martin Moskovitsc,  Galen D. Stuckyc( )
Advanced Ceramic Materials Research Institute, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jingdezhen Ceramic University, Jingdezhen 333403, China
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA

† Xiaojun Zeng and Yifei Ye contributed equally to this work.

Keywords:
layered MXene, ultrasmall NiFePx nanoparticles (NPs), "continuous" single-crystal, honeycomb-like heterostructure, oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity
Cite this article:
Zeng X, Ye Y, Wang Y, et al. Honeycomb-like MXene/NiFePx–NC with "continuous" single-crystal enabling high activity and robust durability in electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reactions. Journal of Advanced Ceramics, 2023, 12(3): 553-564. https://doi.org/10.26599/JAC.2023.9220704
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

The development of low-cost, stable, and robust non-noble metal catalysts for water oxidation is a pivotal challenge for sustainable hydrogen production through electrocatalytic water splitting. Currently, such catalysts suffer from high overpotential and sluggish kinetics in oxygen evolution reactions (OERs). Herein, we report a "continuous" single-crystal honeycomb-like MXene/NiFePx–N-doped carbon (NC) heterostructure, in which ultrasmall NiFePx nanoparticles (NPs) encapsulated in the NC are tightly anchored on a layered MXene. Interestingly, this MXene/NiFePx–NC delivers outstanding OER catalytic performance, which stems from "continuous" single-crystal characteristics, abundant active sites derived from the ultrasmall NiFePx NPs, and the stable honeycomb-like heterostructure with an open structure. The experimental results are rationalized theoretically (by density functional theory (DFT) calculations), which suggests that it is the unique MXene/NiFePx–NC heterostructure that promotes the sluggish OER, thereby enabling superior durability and excellent activity with an ultralow overpotential of 240 mV at a current density of 10 mA·cm−2.


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About this article

Honeycomb-like MXene/NiFePx–NC with "continuous" single-crystal enabling high activity and robust durability in electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reactions

Show Author's information Xiaojun Zenga,c,†( ), Yifei Yea,†, Yongqing Wanga( ), Ronghai Yub, Martin Moskovitsc, Galen D. Stuckyc( )
Advanced Ceramic Materials Research Institute, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jingdezhen Ceramic University, Jingdezhen 333403, China
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA

† Xiaojun Zeng and Yifei Ye contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

The development of low-cost, stable, and robust non-noble metal catalysts for water oxidation is a pivotal challenge for sustainable hydrogen production through electrocatalytic water splitting. Currently, such catalysts suffer from high overpotential and sluggish kinetics in oxygen evolution reactions (OERs). Herein, we report a "continuous" single-crystal honeycomb-like MXene/NiFePx–N-doped carbon (NC) heterostructure, in which ultrasmall NiFePx nanoparticles (NPs) encapsulated in the NC are tightly anchored on a layered MXene. Interestingly, this MXene/NiFePx–NC delivers outstanding OER catalytic performance, which stems from "continuous" single-crystal characteristics, abundant active sites derived from the ultrasmall NiFePx NPs, and the stable honeycomb-like heterostructure with an open structure. The experimental results are rationalized theoretically (by density functional theory (DFT) calculations), which suggests that it is the unique MXene/NiFePx–NC heterostructure that promotes the sluggish OER, thereby enabling superior durability and excellent activity with an ultralow overpotential of 240 mV at a current density of 10 mA·cm−2.

Keywords: layered MXene, ultrasmall NiFePx nanoparticles (NPs), "continuous" single-crystal, honeycomb-like heterostructure, oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity

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Publication history

Received: 20 September 2022
Accepted: 05 December 2022
Published: 16 February 2023
Issue date: March 2023

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© The Author(s) 2022.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22269010), the Training Program for Academic and Technical Leaders of Major Disciplines in Jiangxi Province (No. 20212BCJ23020), the Science and Technology Project of Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education (No. GJJ211305), and Jingdezhen Science and Technology Planning Project (No. 20212GYZD009-04).

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