Room temperature, fast fabrication of square meter-sized oxygen evolution electrode toward industrial alkaline electrolyzer

NiFe-based electrode materials exhibit great promise for next-generation efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts in alkaline medium, but they are difficult to be scaled up for large-area fabrication and are lack of robust research under real industrial conditions. Here we present a rapid, room-temperature sulfuration strategy that transforms stainless steel meshes into highly active and stable oxygen evolution electrodes. Such method is easy to be scaled up to produce square meter-sized stainless steel electrodes (1 m × 1 m) with NiFeCr-containing trimetal sulfides on the surface. In a standard three-electrode cell, the sulfurated stainless steel electrode exhibits 7.2 times higher OER activity than the corresponding stainless steel, and possesses remarkable catalytic stability for over 1000 h at the current density range of 100–200 mA cm −2 . During the OER, the Cr and S species are demonstrated to be easily detached from the electrode surface, and the in situ formed γ -(Fe,Ni)OOH is found to be the electrocatalytic active phase. Furthermore, we integrate the sulfurated stainless steel electrode into an industrial alkaline electrolyzer as the anode (400 cm 2 ). Our results demonstrate that the electrolyzer based on the sulfurated stainless steel electrode exhibits a better catalytic activity than the electrolyzer based on the Raney nickel electrode, a widely-adopted electrode in commercial water–alkali electrolyzers, and delivers a catalytic current of c.a. 300 mA cm –2 for over 120 h under the industrial catalytic conditions (30% KOH, 80 °C). • A square meter-sized, sulfurated stainless steel meshes is prepared under ambient conditions. • The sulfurated stainless steel displays great OER activity and impressive stability for over 1000 h. • The in situ formed, γ -(Fe,Ni)OOH on stainless steel surfaces are identified as a highly active catalytic phase. • The sulfurated stainless steel is integrated into an industrial electrolyzer (400 cm 2 ) as highly active and stable anode.