Bimetallic NiFe MOF directly grown on NiFe foam as Oxygen Evolution Reaction catalyst

Abstract

Transition metal NiFe-based MOFs have attracted much attention as catalysts for electrocatalytic reactions due to their tunable electronic structure, enormous specific surface area, and abundant pore structure. However, MOFs materials generally suffer from poor electrical conductivity. To solve this problem, MOFs can be grown in situ on substrates with good electrical conductivity. Another key issue to be solved is the tight connection of MOFs with the substrate, which will directly affect the cycling stability of MOF catalysts and their ability to withstand high current density. Based on this, in this study, MOFs grow in situ on the NiFe foam substrate using NaCl as the corrosive agent NaCl enables close contact between the generated NiFe-MOF and NFF. Electrocatalytic OER tests confirms that the prepared NiFe-MOF/NFF catalyst has an overpotential of 233.0 mV at 10 mA cm -2 , which is superior to the corresponding Ni-MOF/NFF and Fe-MOF/NFF. Ni and Fe collaborated in concert to boost the performance of electrocatalysts. Additionally, the catalyst can also maintain good cycling stability for 21 h without obvious current decay. The implementation of this study opens up a new research direction for the practical application of MOFs catalysts in electrocatalysis.