Boosting oxygen evolution through phase and electronic modulation of highly dispersed tungsten carbide with nickel doping

Exploring efficient, stable, and earth-abundant electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is of great significance for clean and renewable energy conversion technologies. In this work, in situ uniform Ni-doped tungsten carbide (Ni/WC X ) nanoparticles (~3 nm) on carbon nanofibers (Ni/WC X -CNFs) that were to function as efficient OER catalysts were developed. Both the composition and electronic state of tungsten carbide (WC X : W-WC-W 2 C) could be regulated through varied Ni coupling. Owing to the synergistic effect between Ni and WC X , the reaction kinetics were facilitated, resulting in improved OER activity with low overpotentials of η 10  = 350 mV (modified glassy carbon electrode) and η 10  = 335 mV (self-supporting electrode). This work opens a facile territory for the development of cost-effective and highly promising OER electrocatalysts for use in real life applications.