Engineering Lattice Planes of NiCo-LDH Ultrathin Sheets for Boosting Methanol/Ethanol Oxidation Performance

Alcohol oxidation reactions are known to be significant in the advancement of sustainable, renewable energy sources. Searching for catalytic materials with powerful, reliable, and economic performance is of great importance. Due to their excellent intrinsic performance, outstanding stability, and inexpensiveness, ultrathin layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are considered to be competitive electrocatalysts. However, the electrocatalytic property of ultrathin LDHs is still confined by the predominant exposure of the (003) basal plane. Hence, we have engineered active edge facets in ultrathin NiCo-LDHs, which possess abundant oxygen vacancies (VO), by a facile one-step strategy. Experimental results show that NiCo-LDH-E synthesized in ethanol demonstrates an ultrathin structure, rich oxygen vacancies, and more active facets, exhibiting a higher electrochemical active area of 3.25 cm2, which is 1.18 times that of NiCo-LDH-W (2.75 cm2). In addition, the current density of NiCo-LDH-E in methanol and ethanol oxidation reactions could reach 159.5 and 136.3 mA cm-2, which are 2.8 and 1.7 times that of NiCo-LDH-W, respectively.