Facile synthesis of Nickel-iron based electrocatalyst anodes for efficient oxygen evolution reaction

Author(s): Aisha Batool1, Farah Kanwal2, Shahzad Ahmad3, Sumreen Asim4, Murtaza Saleem5
1School of Physical Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore 54590, Pakistan.
2Institute of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Lahore-54590, Pakistan
3School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing-100083, China
4Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology, Department of Chemistry, 64200-RYK, Pakistan.
5Department of Physics, Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), 54792-Lahore, Pakistan.
Copyright © Aisha Batool, Farah Kanwal, Shahzad Ahmad, Sumreen Asim, Murtaza Saleem. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

In this research, we reported facile synthesis of efficient \(Ni_3Fe\) electrocatalyst nanostructures deposited on conducting carbon fibers surface by a simple chemical bath deposition method at moderate temperature. The composition, phase and electrocatalytic property of as-prepared binder-free electrocatalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and electrochemical measurements. The as-synthesized \(Ni_3Fe@t-CF\) presented excellent performance and durability as water oxidation electrocatalyst in alkaline electrolyte owing to non-segregated deposition of \(Ni_3Fe\) nanostructures on conducting surface of carbon, high electrochemical surface area, and the fast absorption and desorption of water molecules during oxygen evolution reaction due to the \(3D\) architecture of conducting interlaced carbon fibers template.

Keywords: Chemical deposition, \(Ni_3Fe\) nanostructures, carbon cloth fibers, electrochemical surface area, conductivity, oxygen evolution.