Bimetallic Ni–Mo nitride@C₃N₄ for highly active and stable water catalysis

Abstract

Non-noble metal electrocatalysts for water cracking have excellent prospects for development of sustainable and clean energy. Highly efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are very important for various energy storage and conversion systems such as water splitting devices and metal‒air batteries. This study prepared a NiMo₄@C₃N₄ catalyst for OER and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by simple methods. The catalyst exhibited an excellent OER activity based on the response at a suitable temperature. To drive a current density of 10 mA·cm⁻² for OER and HER, the overpotentials required for NiMo₄@C₃N₄-800 (prepared at 800 °C) were 259 and 118 mV, respectively. A two-electrode system using NiMo₄@C₃N₄-800 needed a very low cell potential of 1.572 V to reach a current density of 10 mA·cm⁻². In addition, this catalyst showed excellent durability after long-term tests. It was seen to have good catalytic activity and broad application prospects.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

stability / oxygen reduction reaction / water splitting / electrocatalyst

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Disclosure of potential conflicts of interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest in the content of this work.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Department of Education Basic Research Operating Costs of Heilongjiang Province, China (Grant No. 300663).

Electronic supplementary information

Supplementary materials can be found in the online version at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-022-0613-9, which are associated with this work including Figs. S1‒S17 and Tables S1‒S6.

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