Molybdate‐Leaching‐Induced Bimetallic Catalyst for Efficient Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis
Zhuorong Lu, Wenzhe Niu, Yixiang He, Lujie Jin, Weihang Li, Xiao Yang, Kai Sun, Qisheng Yan, J. H. Chen, Jiaqi Zhang, Wen‐Juan Shi, Chenyang Wei, Youyong Li, Hongbin Lu, Bo Zhang
Abstract
Abstract Anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) offers a promising route for green hydrogen production avoiding noble metal catalysts. The sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics constrained by the intrinsic activity and limited abundance of active sites however remains a significant barrier to the advancement of AEMWE. In this study, heteroatom doping is combined with a molybdate‐leaching strategy to enhance both the intrinsic activity and active site abundance in a single catalyst. Iron is doped into nickel molybdate through a microwave‐assisted method, followed by molybdenum leaching, formed molybdate‐derived Fe‐doped nickel hydroxide (MD‐FeNi). The synergistic effects of the bimetallic composition and the expanded active surface area facilitate the transformation of Ni(OH) 2 in MD‐FeNi to NiOOH, significantly enhancing OER activity. When integrated into an AEMWE system, the catalyst achieves an impressive current density of 7.48 A cm −2 at 2 V, which is ≈2.2 and 2.0 times higher than that of molybdate derived Ni(OH) 2 (3.35 A cm −2 ) and traditional Fe doped Ni(OH) 2 (3.75 A cm −2 ). Furthermore, this binary high‐activity system strategy has demonstrated broad applicability across various catalytic systems, molybdate‐derived Ag‐doped copper hydroxide for high‐efficient CO electroreduction and molybdate‐derived Fe‐doped cobalt hydroxide for NaBH 4 hydrolysis reaction, indicating its potential for diverse applications.