Self-supported nickel sulfide derived from nickel foam for hydrogen evolution and oxygen evolution reaction: effect of crystal phase switching
Wenshu Yang, Shuaishuai Wang, Wei Luo, Longhua Li, Jinhui Hao, Weidong Shi
Abstract
Abstract Designing and fabricating economically viable, high active and stable electrocatalysts play an important role for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Crystal phase is the crucial factor that governs the electrochemical property and electrocatalytic reaction pathways. Here, a one-step nickel foam derived sulfidation method was presented to synthesize self-supported NiS 2 and Ni 3 S 2 . The crystal phase-dependent chemical properties related to electrocatalytic behavior were evaluated by a series of advanced characterization and density functional theory calculations. Overall, the self-supported Ni 3 S 2 shows high electrochemical activity towards both HER and OER in alkaline conditions, which afford the current density of 10 mA cm −2 with overpotentials of 245 mV for OER and 123 mV for HER, respectively. When employed the self-supported Ni 3 S 2 as the bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting, the entire device provides the current density of 10 mA cm −2 at 1.61 V. These results indicate that the electrocatalytic properties can be exert greater improved by controlling the crystal phase, offering the prospect for advanced materials design and development.