One-Step Electrosynthesis of Bifunctional NiCu Nanosheets on Iron Foam for Remarkably Enhanced Alkaline Water Splitting

Zhenwei Liu, Qiang Wang, Qingxiang Kong, Xiaoning Tong, Song Wu, Naixuan Zong, Ruidong Xu () and Linjing Yang ()
Additional contact information
Zhenwei Liu: Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China
Qiang Wang: 2020 X-Lab, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
Qingxiang Kong: Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China
Xiaoning Tong: Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China
Song Wu: Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China
Naixuan Zong: Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China
Ruidong Xu: Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China
Linjing Yang: Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 16, 1-13

Abstract: Electrocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production driven by renewable electricity offers a promising way of achieving energy sustainability, but the design of highly efficient and cost-effective electrocatalysts is regarded as a bottleneck. Herein, a bifunctional microflowers NiCu is successfully deposited on an iron foam (IF) electrode via one-step electrolysis of spend cupronickel (SCN). Unexpectedly, the designed IF-supported NiCu (NiCu/IF) electrocatalysts exhibit excellent catalytic performance for oxygen evolution reactions (OER) and hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) in 1 M KOH. Only 98 and 267 mV are required to drive a current density of 10 mA cm −2 for HER and OER, respectively. Importantly, the self-supported NiCu/IF electrode requires a low cell voltage of 1.57 V to achieve 10 mA cm −2 of alkaline overall water splitting with extremely high stability. With the introduction of a glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR), the HER performance is further remarkably enhanced with an extremely low cell voltage of 1.29 V at 10 mA cem −2 , highlighting an attractive energy-efficient hydrogen production coupled with biomass conversion process. This study reports a novel synthesis strategy for low-cost and high-performance Ni-based nanostructure catalysts using SCN as precursors, which is of vital significance for green hydrogen production and waste recycling.

Keywords: bifunctional electrocatalysts; water splitting; spend cupronickel; soluble anode; electrosynthesis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/16/12240/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/16/12240/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:16:p:12240-:d:1214607

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().