In-situ surface selective removal: An efficient way to prepare water oxidation catalyst

The design of cost-efficient earth-abundant catalysts with superior performance for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is extremely important for future renewable energy production . The synthesis of high-surface-area catalysts with high intrinsic activity remains challenging. In this work, in-situ surface selective removal method by electrochemical oxidation is used to synthesize nickel (oxy)hydroxide covered Ni 3 Sn 2 supported on carbon nanotubes (Ni 3 Sn 2 @NiO x H y /CNT), which exhibits 10, 100, 200 and 300 mA cm −2 at overpotential of 250, 317, 329 and 335 mV in OER, respectively. In-situ surface selective removal of Sn from the crystal lattices and oxidation of Ni under anodic oxidation provide highly active amorphous NiO x H y with abundant surface defects , leading to the high apparent activity (current density) and intrinsic activity (TOF) of the Ni 3 Sn 2 @NiO x H y /CNT. This work develops a general method to synthesize high-surface-area water oxidation catalysts, which can be used to prepare a series of catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction in the near future.