Fabrication of Cu(OH)2@NiFe-layered double hydroxide catalyst array for electrochemical water splitting

•NiFe-LDH coated Cu(OH)2 array was well fabricated on carbon paper by using a UPED method.•The optimum Cu(OH)2 nanorod @ NiFe-LDH nanosheet core/shell array structure was obtained.•The optimum fabrication condition resulted in a small overpotential of 283 mV to yield a current of 10 mA cm−2.•The electrode had a good stability during water electrolysis.

NiFe-layered double hydride (NiFe-LDH) coated Cu(OH)2 array was well fabricated on carbon paper as anode by using a facile unipolar pulse electrodeposition (UPED) method for electrochemical water splitting. Effects of the initial molar ratio of Ni/Fe in the deposition solution, applied pulse potential, applied quantity of electricity on the performance of anode were investigated. The optimum Cu(OH)2 nanorod @ NiFe-LDH nanosheet core/shell array structure was successfully obtained with an initial Ni/Fe molar ratio of 6:4 in the deposition solution, an applied pulse potential of −1.1 V and an applied quantity of electricity of 2.5 C by using the UPED method, which also showed a small overpotential of 283 mV to yield a current density of 10 mA cm−2 and a good stability during water electrolysis. It is expected to provide a new way to prepare anode with low cost and high performance for water electrolysis.

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