NiFeP-MoO2 hybrid nanorods on nickel foam as high-activity and high-stability electrode for overall water splitting

The research about inexpensive and efficient electrocatalyst plays a significant role in electrocatalyzing H2 production from water splitting. We herein report a novel hybrid 1D heterogeneous nanorods based on nickel–iron phosphide and molybdenum dioxide (NFPMO) grown on nickel foam that presents highly outstanding electrocatalytic performance in electrochemical overall water splitting, both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The applied cell voltage of employing NFPMO electrode in overall water splitting merely require 1.41 V and 1.65 V at 10 mA cm−2 and 100 mA cm−2 working electrolysis current density, respectively, and it can bear high stably upon hundreds of hours long-term electrolysis operation. The synergistic effects of heterogeneous structure in 1D nanorods obviously accelerate the electrocatalytic activity, as demonstrated by not only electrochemical tests but also coupling systematic electrochemical study with density functional theory (DFT) calculation.