Enhanced Hydroxyl Adsorption in Ultrathin NiO/Cr2O3 In-Plane Heterostructures for Efficient Alkaline Methanol Oxidation Reaction

The exploration of advanced nickel-based electrocatalysts for alkaline methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) holds immense promise for value-added organic products coupled with hydrogen production, but still remain challenging. Herein, we construct ultrathin NiO/Cr2O3 in-plane heterostructures to promote the alkaline MOR process. Experimental and theoretical studies reveal that NiO/Cr2O3 in-plane heterostructures enable a favorable upshift of the d-band center and enhanced adsorption of hydroxyl species, leading to accelerated generation of active NiO(OH)(ads) species. Furthermore, ultrathin in-plane heterostructures endow the catalyst with good charge transfer ability and adsorption behavior of methanol molecules onto catalytic sites, contributing to the improvement of alkaline MOR kinetics. As a result, ultrathin NiO/Cr2O3 in-plane heterostructures exhibit a remarkable MOR activity with a high current density of 221 mA cm(-2) at 0.6 V vs Ag/AgCl, which is 7.1-fold larger than that of pure NiO nanosheets and comparable with other highly active catalysts reported so far. This work provides an effectual strategy to optimize the activity of nickel-based catalysts and highlights the dominate efficacy of ultrathin in-plane heterostructures in alkaline MOR.