In situ formation of high performance Ni-phytate on Ni-foam for efficient electrochemical water oxidation

• The Ni-phytate electrode is prepared without the use of binder or conducting agent.
• More active sites and good charge transfer efficiency due to the film and bubble-like structure
• The Ni-phytate catalyst presents a low overpotential, small Tafel slope and good stability.
• The introduction of phytate units significantly improves the performance of the electrocatalyst.
• This method could be used to develop other catalysts based on transition metals.

Electrochemical water splitting in an alkaline electrolyte for large-scale hydrogen production is currently a hot research topic. However, developing high-performance and durable oxygen-evolving electrocatalysts is an ongoing challenge. In this work we prepared Ni-phytate thin films with a bubble-like structure on Ni-foam through an in situ growth process. The resulting material can be used as an oxygen-evolving electrode in basic media without requiring the use of a conductive binder. The Ni-phytate electrode has high catalytic activity (ηj = 10 mA cm− 2 = 280 mV) and good stability (the current activity remained 95% after 5 h) towards OER. This is an effective approach to simplifying the large-scale preparation of catalysts for water-splitting applications.

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