Holey nanospheres of amorphous bimetallic phosphide electrodeposited on 3D porous Ni foam for efficient oxygen evolution

The electrocatalyst with low cost and excellent catalytic performance for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is indispensable in large-scale water electrolysis for hydrogen generation. Herein, we report an inexpensive and highly efficient OER catalyst, amorphous Ni-Fe-P holey nanospheres, which were in situ grown on 3D porous Ni foam by one-step electrodeposition. The as-prepared Ni-Fe-P/NF shows attractive catalytic performance in alkaline medium with a low overpotential of 156 mV at a 10 mA cm−2 current density, a Tafel slope of 69 mV dec−1, and the long-term (>36 h) durability, which is superior to other well-performed metal-phosphide catalysts reported and the commercial catalyst IrO2. Such remarkable OER catalytic performance can be attributed to the synergism of Ni and Fe elements, the amorphous holey structure, the surface superaerophobicity and self-supportive configuration of the as-prepared NiFe bimetal phosphide.