Ni–Fe–Mo oxide bifunctional electrocatalysts enabling high efficiency overall water splitting in alkaline media

Abstract

Hydrothermally synthesized and annealed Ni–Fe–Mo oxide nanorods exhibit efficient bifunctional electrocatalysis in alkaline freshwater and seawater, reaching 10 mA cm⁻² at low overpotentials of 1.42 V and 1.66 V, respectively. Enhanced activity arises from increased surface area, abundant active sites, and built-in electric fields at nanorod-particle heterojunctions that direct charge transfer and decouple reaction zones, accelerating hydrogen and oxygen evolution reaction kinetics.