Synergistic effect of V and Fe in Ni/Fe/V ternary layered double hydroxides for efficient and durable oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract

High-performance and stable electrocatalysts are vital for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, via a one-pot hydrothermal method, Ni/Fe/V ternary layered double hydroxides (NiFeV-LDH) derived from Ni foam are fabricated to work as highly active and durable electrocatalysts for OER. By changing the feeding ratio of Fe and V salts, the prepared ternary hydroxides were optimized. At an Fe:V ratio of 0.5:0.5, NiFeV-LDH exhibits outstanding OER activity superior to that of the binary hydroxides, requiring overpotentials of 269 and 274 mV at 50 mA·cm^–2 in the linear sweep voltammetry and sampled current voltammetry measurements, respectively. Importantly, NiFeV-LDH shows extraordinary long-term stability (≥ 75 h) at an extremely high current density of 200 mA·cm^–2. In contrast, the binary hydroxides present quick decay at 200 mA·cm^–2 or even reduced current densities (150 and 100 mA·cm^–2). The outstanding OER performance of NiFeV-LDH benefits from the synergistic effect of V and Fe while doping the third metal into bimetallic hydroxide layers: (a) Fe plays a crucial role as the active site; (b) electron-withdrawing V stabilizes the high valence state of Fe, thus accelerating the OER process; (c) V further offers great stabilization for the formed intermediate of FeOOH, thus achieving superior durability.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

oxygen evolution reaction / electrocatalysts / ternary layered double hydroxides / long-term stability

References

[1] da Silva Veras T, Mozer T S, da Costa Rubim Messeder dos Santos D, da Silva César A. Hydrogen: trends, production and characterization of the main process worldwide. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2017, 42( 4): 2018– 2033

[2] Kim J S, Kim B, Kim H, Kang K. Recent progress on multimetal oxide catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction. Advanced Energy Materials, 2018, 8( 11): 1702774

[3] Suen N T, Hung S F, Quan Q, Zhang N, Xu Y J, Chen H M. Electrocatalysis for the oxygen evolution reaction: recent development and future perspectives. Chemical Society Reviews, 2017, 46( 2): 337– 365

[4] Li Y, Sun Y, Qin Y, Zhang W, Wang L, Luo M, Yang H, Guo S. Recent advances on water-splitting electrocatalysis mediated by noble-metal-based nanostructured materials. Advanced Energy Materials, 2020, 10( 11): 1903120

[5] Wang Q, O’Hare D. Recent advances in the synthesis and application of layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets. Chemical Reviews, 2012, 112( 7): 4124– 4155

[6] Anantharaj S, Karthick K, Venkatesh M, Simha T V S V, Salunke A S, Ma L, Liang H, Kundu S. Enhancing electrocatalytic total water splitting at few layer Pt−NiFe layered double hydroxide interfaces. Nano Energy, 2017, 39 : 30– 43

[7] Hu L, Li M, Wei X, Wang H, Wu Y, Wen J, Gu W, Zhu C. Modulating interfacial electronic structure of CoNi LDH nanosheets with Ti₃C₂T_x MXene for enhancing water oxidation catalysis. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2020, 398 : 125605

[8] Fan K, Chen H, Ji Y, Huang H, Claesson P M, Daniel Q, Philippe B, Rensmo H, Li F, Luo Y, Sun L. Nickel-vanadium monolayer double hydroxide for efficient electrochemical water oxidation. Nature Communications, 2016, 7( 1): 11981

[9] Goncalves J M, Martins P R, Angnes L, Araki K. Recent advances in ternary layered double hydroxide electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction. New Journal of Chemistry, 2020, 44( 24): 9981– 9997

[10] Bi Y, Cai Z, Zhou D, Tian Y, Zhang Q, Zhang Q, Kuang Y, Li Y, Sun X, Duan X. Understanding the incorporating effect of Co²⁺/Co³⁺ in NiFe-layered double hydroxide for electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction. Journal of Catalysis, 2018, 358 : 100– 107

[11] Wang Z, Liu W, Hu Y, Xu L, Guan M, Qiu J, Huang Y, Bao J, Li H. An Fe-doped NiV LDH ultrathin nanosheet as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for efficient water oxidation. Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers, 2019, 6( 7): 1890– 1896

[12] Anantharaj S, Kundu S, Noda S. “The Fe effect”: a review unveiling the critical roles of Fe in enhancing OER activity of Ni and Co based catalysts. Nano Energy, 2021, 80 : 105514

[13] Anantharaj S, Karthick K, Kundu S. Evolution of layered double hydroxides (LDH) as high performance water oxidation electrocatalysts: a review with insights on structure, activity and mechanism. Materials Today. Energy, 2017, 6 : 1– 26

[14] Nur Indah Sari F, Abdillah S, Ting J M. FeOOH-containing hydrated layered iron vanadate electrocatalyst for superior oxygen evolution reaction and efficient water splitting. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2021, 416 : 129165

[15] Bao W, Xiao L, Zhang J, Deng Z, Yang C, Ai T, Wei X. Interface engineering of NiV-LDH@FeOOH heterostructures as high-performance electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline conditions. Chemical Communications (Cambridge), 2020, 56( 65): 9360– 9693

[16] Fan K, Ji Y, Zou H, Zhang J, Zhu B, Chen H, Daniel Q, Luo Y, Yu J, Sun L. Hollow iron-vanadium composite spheres: a highly efficient iron-based water oxidation electrocatalyst without the need for nickel or cobalt. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2017, 56( 12): 3289– 3293

[17] Sun H, Xu X, Song Y, Zhou W, Shao Z. Designing high-valence metal sites for electrochemical water splitting. Advanced Functional Materials, 2021, 31( 16): 2009779

[18] Yu J, Yang F, Cheng G, Luo W. Construction of a hierarchical NiFe layered double hydroxide with a 3D mesoporous structure as an advanced electrocatalyst for water oxidation. Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers, 2018, 5( 8): 1795– 1799

[19] Zeng L, Yang L, Lu J, Jia J, Yu J, Deng Y, Shao M, Zhou W. One-step synthesis of Fe−Ni hydroxide nanosheets derived from bimetallic foam for efficient electrocatalytic oxygen evolution and overall water splitting. Chinese Chemical Letters, 2018, 29( 12): 1875– 1878

[20] Li P, Duan X, Kuang Y, Li Y, Zhang G, Liu W, Sun X. Tuning electronic structure of NiFe layered double hydroxides with vanadium doping toward high efficient electrocatalytic water oxidation. Advanced Energy Materials, 2018, 8( 15): 1703341

[21] Tang T, Jiang W J, Niu S, Liu N, Luo H, Chen Y Y, Jin S F, Gao F, Wan L J, Hu J S. Electronic and morphological dual modulation of cobalt carbonate hydroxides by Mn doping toward highly efficient and stable bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2017, 139( 24): 8320– 8328

[22] Wang J X, Zhang Y, Capuano C B, Ayers K E. Ultralow charge-transfer resistance with ultralow Pt loading for hydrogen evolution and oxidation using Ru@Pt core-shell nanocatalysts. Scientific Reports, 2015, 5( 1): 12220

[23] Miyata S. Anion-exchange properties of hydrotalcite-like compounds. Clays and Clay Minerals, 1983, 31( 4): 305– 311

[24] Forano C, Costantino U, Prévot V, Gueho C T. Developments in Clay Science. 2nd ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2013, 745– 782

[25] Palapa N R, Saria Y, Taher T, Mohadi R, Lesbani A. Synthesis and characterization of Zn/Al, Zn/Fe, and Zn/Cr layered double hydroxides: effect of M³⁺ ions toward layer formation. Science and Technology Indonesia, 2019, 4( 2): 36– 39

[26] Liu Y, Wang Y Z. Preparation and characterization of layered double hydroxide with different metallic ions. Chemical Research and Application, 2009, 21( 6): 883– 887

[27] Schwertmann U, Pfab G. Structural vanadium in synthetic geothite. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 1994, 58( 20): 4349– 4352

[28] Song Y, Song M, Liu P, Liu W, Yuan L, Hao X, Pei L, Xu B, Guo J, Sun Z. Fe-doping induced localized amorphization in ultrathin α-Ni(OH)₂ nanomesh for superior oxygen evolution reaction catalysis. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2021, 9( 25): 14372– 14380

[29] Anantharaj S, Noda S. Amorphous catalysts and electrochemical water splitting: an untold story of harmony. Small, 2020, 16( 2): 1905779

[30] Nesbitt H W, Legrand D, Bancroft G M. Interpretation of Ni2p XPS spectra of Ni conductors and Ni insulators. Physics and Chemistry of Minerals, 2000, 27( 5): 357– 366

[31] Feng Y, Li Z, Li S, Yang M, Ma R, Wang J. One stone two birds: vanadium doping as dual roles in self-reduced Pt clusters and accelerated water splitting. Journal of Energy Chemistry, 2022, 66 : 493– 501

[32] Leng K, Zhang C, Li X, Hou C, Sun Y. Iron-containing MIL-101(Cr) as highly active and stable heterogeneous catalysts for the benzylation of aromatics with benzyl chloride. Reaction Kinetics, Mechanisms and Catalysis, 2017, 120( 1): 345– 357

[33] Silversmit G, Depla D, Poelman H, Marin G B, De Gryse R. Determination of the V2p XPS binding energies for different vanadium oxidation states (V⁵⁺ to V⁰⁺). Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena, 2004, 135( 2–3): 167– 175

[34] Wang J, Liao T, Wei Z, Sun J, Guo J, Sun Z. Heteroatom-doping of non-noble metal-based catalysts for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution: an electronic structure tuning strategy. Small Methods, 2021, 5( 4): 2000988

[35] Yang Y, Dang L, Shearer M J, Sheng H, Li W, Chen J, Xiao P, Zhang Y, Hamers R J, Jin S. Highly active trimetallic NiFeCr layered double hydroxide electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction. Advanced Energy Materials, 2018, 8( 15): 1703189

[36] Zhang B, Zheng X, Voznyy O, Comin R, Bajdich M, Garcia-Melchor M, Han L L, Xu J X, Liu M, Zheng L R, García de Arquer F P, Dinh C T, Fan F, Yuan M, Yassitepe E, Chen N, Regier T, Liu P, Li Y, De Luna P, Janmohamed A, Xin H L, Yang H, Vojvodic A, Sargent E H. Homogeneously dispersed multimetal oxygen-evolving catalysts. Science, 2016, 352( 6283): 333– 337

[37] Bao J, Wang Z, Xie J, Xu L, Lei F, Guan M, Zhao Y, Huang Y, Li H. A ternary cobalt-molybdenum-vanadium layered double hydroxide nanosheet array as an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting. Chemical Communications (Cambridge), 2019, 55( 24): 3521– 3524

[38] Hu Y, Wang Z, Liu W, Xu L, Guan M, Huang Y, Zhao Y, Bao J, Li H M. Novel cobalt-iron-vanadium layered double hydroxide nanosheet arrays for superior water oxidation performance. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2019, 7( 19): 16828– 16834

[39] Zhu Y X, Liu M, Hou G Y, Tang Y P, Wu L K. The release of metal ions induced surface reconstruction of layered double hydroxide electrocatalysts. Sustainable Energy & Fuels, 2021, 5( 13): 3436– 3444

[40] Anantharaj S, Kundu S, Noda S. Worrisome exaggeration of activity of electrocatalysts destined for steady-state water electrolysis by polarization curves from transient techniques. Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 2022, 169( 1): 014508

[41] Anantharaj S, Ede S R, Karthick K, Sam Sankar S, Sangeetha K, Karthik P E, Kundu S. Precision and correctness in the evaluation of electrocatalytic water splitting: revisiting activity parameters with a critical assessment. Energy & Environmental Science, 2018, 11( 4): 744– 771

[42] Zhang K, Zou R. Advanced transition metal-based OER electrocatalysts: current status, opportunities, and challenges. Small, 2021, 17( 37): 2100129

[43] Anantharaj S, Kundu S. Do the evaluation parameters reflect intrinsic activity of electrocatalysts in electrochemical water splitting?. ACS Energy Letters, 2019, 4( 6): 1260– 1264

[44] Anantharaj S, Karthik P E, Noda S. The significance of properly reporting turnover frequency in electrocatalysis research. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2021, 60( 43): 23051– 23067

[45] Anantharaj S, Sugime H, Noda S. Surface amorphized nickel hydroxy sulphide for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline medium. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2021, 408 : 127275

[46] Trotochaud L, Young S L, Ranney J K, Boettcher S W. Nickel-iron oxyhydroxide oxygen-evolution electrocatalysts: the role of intentional and incidental iron incorporation. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2014, 136( 18): 6744– 6753

[47] Sun M, Ru X R, Zhai L F. In-situ fabrication of supported iron oxides from synthetic acid mine drainage: high catalytic activities and good stabilities towards electro-Fenton reaction. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2015, 165 : 103– 110

[48] Bai J, Mei J, Liao T, Sun Q, Chen Z G, Sun Z. Molybdenum-promoted surface reconstruction in polymorphic cobalt for initiating rapid oxygen evolution. Advanced Energy Materials, 2022, 12( 5): 2103247

[49] Dinh K N, Zheng P L, Dai Z F, Zhang Y, Dangol R, Zheng Y, Li B, Zong Y, Yan Q Y. Ultrathin porous NiFeV ternary layer hydroxide nanosheets as a highly efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting. Small, 2018, 14( 8): 1703257

[50] Wang Z, Zeng S, Liu W, Wang X, Li Q, Zhao Z, Geng F. Coupling molecularly ultrathin sheets of NiFe-layered double hydroxide on NiCo₂O₄ nanowire arrays for highly efficient overall water-splitting activity. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2017, 9( 2): 1488– 1495

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 22176017 and 21871028), CAS “Light of West China Program” (Grant No. XAB2020YW16), Scientific Research Project of the Ningxia Higher Education Department of China (Grant No. NGY2020034), Foundation of State Key Laboratory of High-efficiency Utilization of Coal and Green Chemical Engineering (Grant No. 2020-KF-40).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11705-022-2179-6 and is accessible for authorized users.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2022 Higher Education Press