Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2017, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (11): 1812-1817.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(17)62921-8

• Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Electrocatalytic water oxidation by a nickel oxide film derived from a molecular precursor

Fei Lia, Hua Lia, Yong Zhua, Jian Dua, Yong Wanga, Licheng Suna,b   

  1. a State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, DUT-KTH Joint Education and Research Center on Molecular Devices, Dalian University of Technology(DUT), Dalian 116024, Liaoning, China;
    b Department of Chemistry, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm 10044, Sweden
  • Received:2017-08-30 Revised:2017-09-25 Online:2017-11-18 Published:2017-11-24
  • Contact: 10.1016/S1872-2067(17)62921-8
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 program, 2014CB239402), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21476043), and the Swedish Energy Agency and K&A Wallenberg Foundation

Abstract:

In this study, we fabricated a NiOx film by electrodeposition of an ethanediamine nickel complex precursor (pH=11) on a fluorine-doped tin oxide substrate. The resulting film is robust and exhib-its high catalytic activity for electrochemical water oxidation. Water oxidation is initiated with an overpotential of 375 mV (1 mA/cm2) and a steady current density of 8.5 mA/cm2 is maintained for at least 10 h at 1.3 V versus the normal hydrogen electrode. Kinetic analysis reveals that there is a 2e-/3H+ pre-equilibrium process before the chemical rate-determining step. The low-cost preparation, robustness, and longevity make this catalyst competitive for applications in solar energy conversion and storage.

Key words: Electrolysis, Nickel oxide, Water oxidation, Molecular precursor, Water splitting