Cu-doped NiFe layered double hydroxide nanosheets on nickel foam as an effective and durable electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction

Water splitting by electrolysis is an environmentally friendly and promising method to gain hydrogen energy. Since both oxygen evolution reaction (OER) process and hydrogen evolution reaction process of electrolysis are kinetically sluggish and need to overcome a large potential barrier, it is imperative, especially for the poor kinetic OER, to explore available electrocatalytic materials. Here, this paper proposed a preparation of copper-doped nickel-iron-layered double hydroxide (NiFeCu LDH) with sheet-like nanostructure arranged perpendicularly to nickel foam matrix (NiFeCu LDH/NF) through a facile hydrothermal process. Benefitting from the combination with nickel foam and doping with copper, the poor conductivity of pure NiFe LDH is remedied and the quantity of exposed catalytic active sites on the electrocatalyst is increased. Hence, the as-prepared NiFeCu LDH/NF possesses outstanding OER catalytic capacity in 1.0 M KOH, and when applying a mere overpotential of 183 mV, it can convey a current density of 10 mA cm(-2). Furthermore, both at 10 and 80 mA cm(-2), this electrocatalyst could maintain long-term durability at least for 24 h. In our preparation, a simple approach was applied to bolster the OER catalytic performance of electrocatalysts based on NiFe LDH.