Ni/Ni-MoS2/Ni-MoS2-Fe3O4 multilayer electrode for oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline medium

Developing efficient non-precious metal water decomposition catalysts is of great significance, but it is challenging due to the slow kinetics of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline media. Here, a multilayer catalytic electrode composed of Ni/Ni-MoS2/Ni-MoS2-Fe3O4 composite electrodes was manufactured by magnetic field scanning jet electrodeposition. Compared to monolayer composite electrodes, multilayer composite electrodes showed the characteristics of multilayer with microstructure on the surface morphology, and exhibited excellent OER catalytic activity in an alkaline medium. The Ni/Ni-MoS2/Ni-MoS2-Fe3O4 multilayer electrode exhibited the highest oxygen evolution reaction activity, with an overpotential of only 272 mV at a current density of 10 mA·cm−2, its Tafel slope was 42 mV·dec−1. It remained stable after 50 hours of stability testing. The improvement in catalytic performance of the multilayer electrode was attributed to modifications in physical and electronic structures. The multilayer electrode exposed abundant active sites and enhanced its inherent catalytic activity for OER, which was also confirmed by electrochemical active surface area and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. This work provides strong support for the manufacturing of high-performance non-precious metal-based multilayer electrodes for water electrolysis.