Facile route to achieve MoSe₂-Ni₃Se₂ on nickel foam as efficient dual functional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting

Abstract

Since the catalytic activity of present nickel-based synthetic selenide is still to be improved, MoSe₂-Ni₃Se₂ was synthesized on nickel foam (NF) (MoSe₂-Ni₃Se₂/NF) by introducing a molybdenum source. After the molybdenum source was introduced, the surface of the catalyst changed from a single-phase structure to a multi-phase structure. The catalyst surface with enriched active sites and the synergistic effect of MoSe₂ and Ni₃Se₂ together enhance the hydrogen evolution reactions (HER), the oxygen evolution reactions (OER), and electrocatalytic total water splitting activity of the catalyst. The overpotential of the MoSe₂-Ni₃Se₂/NF electrocatalyst is only 259 mV and 395 mV at a current density of 100 mA/cm² for HER and OER, respectively. MoSe₂-Ni₃Se₂/NF with a two-electrode system attains a current density of 10 mA/cm² at 1.60 V. In addition, the overpotential of HER and OER of MoSe₂-Ni₃Se₂/NF within 80000 s and the decomposition voltage of electrocatalytic total water decomposition hardly changed, showing an extremely strong stability. The improvement of MoSe₂-Ni₃Se₂/NF catalytic activity is attributed to the establishment of the multi-phase structure and the optimized inoculation of the multi-component and multi-interface.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

three-dimensional molybdenum nanoma- terials / hydrogen evolution reaction / oxygen evolution reaction / overall water splitting

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Scientific Research Projects of Jilin Provincial Department of Education (Grant No. JJKH20211285KJ) and Jilin Provincial Science and Technology Development Foundation (Grant No. 20200201090JC).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-022-0813-0 and is accessible for authorized users.

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