Porous Fe-Doped β-Ni(OH)2 Nanopyramid Array Electrodes for Water Splitting

We report a highly efficient and stable electrode composed of a porous Fe-doped β-nickel hydroxide nanopyramid array supported on nickel foam (U-Fe-β-Ni(OH)2/NF) for overall water splitting. The unique structure is assembled via a self-templated strategy by utilizing the FeNi oxalate (FeNi-C2O4/NF) nanopyramid as the templates, followed by an anion-exchange reaction at room temperature. Due to the intrinsic activity of Fe-doped β-Ni(OH)2 along with unique porous array structures consisting of two-dimensional (2D) active materials on three-dimensional (3D) conductive substrates, the developed electrode exhibited outstanding electrocatalytic activity for both the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in an alkaline medium. The introduced amount of Fe plays a significant role in promoting OER and HER activity compared to the β-Ni(OH)2 electrode. The optimal electrode (U-Fe-β-Ni(OH)2/NF-2) generated a current density of 10 mA cm-2 at low overpotentials of 218 mV for the OER and 121 mV for the HER. The electrode also demonstrated considerably stable performance during the continuous water splitting process. Furthermore, we elucidated the promotion mechanisms of the active Fe-doped β-Ni(OH)2 compound for the OER and HER based on extensive characterization and electrochemical measurements. Hence, this work provides a facile approach to developing low-cost, efficient, and stable hydroxide-based electrodes for bifunctional OER and HER in water splitting.