Boosting oxygen evolution reaction on Ni3C via electronic modulation by cerium doping

The development of transition metal carbides (TMCs) as non-precious electrocatalysts for sustainable hydrogen production is hindered by the challenge of precisely controlling their electronic and geometric structures. Herein, we develop a facile in situ self-polymerization and gas-phase deposition strategy to synthesize Ce-doped Ni 3 C (Ce-Ni 3 C), where Ce incorporation induces favorable electron redistribution and optimizes active-site accessibility. Remarkably, the one-week self-polymerized Ce-Ni 3 C -1 catalyst exhibits exceptional oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance in alkaline media, achieving an ultralow overpotential of 210.9 mV at 10 mA cm −2 , a Tafel slope of 39.4 mV dec −1 , and minimal charge-transfer resistance, indicative of rapid reaction kinetics. The catalyst demonstrates outstanding durability, maintaining stable activity over 1000 CV cycles with negligible current density decay during 100 h chronoamperometry. This work has opened new avenues for high-performance electrocatalyst design.