In Situ Growth of Ceria on Cerium–Nitrogen–Carbon as Promoter for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Rational design and controlled synthesis of a promoter is a unique and more widely applicable approach to materials development for significant energy applications such as electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction. This study reports a novel promoter based on ceria in situ growth on cerium–nitrogen–carbon (CeO 2 @CeNC) for an oxygen evolution electrocatalyst. Composited with NiFe‐LDH (optimal mass ratio of layer double hydroxide (LDH) and CeO 2 @CeNC is 2), the hybrid material (NiFe‐LDH/CeO 2 @CeNC) exhibits excellent activity for oxygen evolution superior to those of most nickel‐based catalysts and commercial Ir/C (20%) benchmark, achieving current densities of 10 mA cm −2 and 100 mA cm −2 at overpotentials of 235 and 430 mV, respectively. Introducing Ce is the key for the hybrid material with superior activity. This advance might provide some new ideas for the development of new high‐efficiency electrocatalysts by assembling promoters for electrochemical water oxidation.