Competitive coordination-induced assembling of Ni-mof/NiFe-ldh heterostructure for enhanced electrocatalytic methanol oxidation.

Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) can permit the utilization of noble-metal-free electrocatalysts, which certainly reduces the cost and accelerates their practical implementation. With the exploration of efficient and economical methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) catalysts, Ni-based nanostructures have been recognized as the most promising MOR catalysts in alkaline media. Herein, we construct a novel heterojunction MOR electrocatalyst composed of Ni-based metal-organic framework (Ni-MOF) and NiFe-based layered double hydroxides (LDHs) through a coordination-induced self-assembly strategy. Owing to the synergic effect between Ni and Fe sites, coupled with the effect of hetero-interface, the resultant Ni-MOF/NiFe-LDH composite exhibits remarkable MOR activity in 0.1 M KOH electrolyte with the oxidation current density (32.66 mA cm−2) is 2.65 and 2.44 times higher than that of the primitive NiFe-LDH and Ni-MOF. The excellent stability of the Ni-MOF/NiFe-LDH electrocatalyst has also been confirmed by long-term chronoamperometry (CA) analysis. Our work paves a facile controllable way for fabricating MOF/LDH heterostructure targets on MOR and underlines its potential to boost energy conversion efficiency through the manipulation of synergic components. A novel Ni-MOF/NiFe-LDH heterojunction MOR electrocatalyst has been successfully constructed through a coordination-induced self-assembly strategy, which exhibits a collaborative enhancement in electrocatalytic properties toward alkaline MOR. [Display omitted] • A heterojunction composite has been constructed through a coordination-induced self-assembly strategy. • Ni-MOF/NiFe-LDH exhibits remarkable electrocatalytic activity toward alkaline MOR. • This work underlines the potential of MOF/LDH heterostructure in enhancing energy conversion efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]