In situ formation of high performance Ni-phytate on Ni-foam for efficient electrochemical water oxidation

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=10mAcm−2=280mV) 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. Keywords: Oxygen evolution reaction, In situ formation, Ni-phytate, Sodium phytate, Water oxidation