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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