Electrically driven phosphorus dissolution from iron-nickel phosphate surfaces exposing highly active sites for oxygen evolution reaction

Ya Liu; Jinghui Zhu; Liang Yu; Yubin Zhao; Xing Cao; Shoujing Wei; Junrong Zeng; Huanhui Chen; Ziqian Lu; Binyi Chen; Gaowei Zhang; Liubiao Zhong; Yejun Qiu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2024.12.031

Electrically driven phosphorus dissolution from iron-nickel phosphate surfaces exposing highly active sites for oxygen evolution reaction

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2024 Dec 9;683(Pt 1):197-206. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.12.031. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Ya Liu¹, Jinghui Zhu², Liang Yu¹, Yubin Zhao¹, Xing Cao¹, Shoujing Wei¹, Junrong Zeng¹, Huanhui Chen¹, Ziqian Lu¹, Binyi Chen¹, Gaowei Zhang³, Liubiao Zhong⁴, Yejun Qiu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Shenzhen Engineering Lab of Flexible Transparent Conductive Films, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, PR China.
² Shenzhen TIG Technology Co., Ltd, Shenzhen 518100, PR China.
³ Shenzhen Engineering Lab of Flexible Transparent Conductive Films, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, PR China; School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lingnan Normal University, Zhanjiang 524048, PR China. Electronic address: zhanggaowei@lingnan.edu.cn.
⁴ Shenzhen Engineering Lab of Flexible Transparent Conductive Films, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, PR China. Electronic address: zhongliubiao@hit.edu.cn.
⁵ Shenzhen Engineering Lab of Flexible Transparent Conductive Films, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Optoelectronic Materials and Intelligent Photonic Systems, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, PR China. Electronic address: yejunqiu@hit.edu.cn.

PMID: 39673932
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.12.031

Abstract

The enhancement of catalytic activity can be achieved by removing non-active components from the surface of catalyst materials, thereby increasing the accessibility of active sites. In this study, an electrically driven method is described for the removal of non-active phosphorus (P) to optimize the surface composition of iron-nickel phosphide (denoted as P-O-NFF), resulting in the exposure of more active Fe-Ni sites for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The optimized P-O-NFF electrode exhibits exceptional OER catalytic activity, with an overpotential of 217 mV at 10 mA cm^-2. Furthermore, it demonstrates significant stability, maintaining a 100 % voltage retention rate after 300 h at a high current density of 200 mA cm^-2. The superior performance can be attributed to the disruption of the original crystalline lattice during the electrically driven P dissolution, which leads to the formation of amorphous Fe-Ni hydroxide/oxyhydroxide that enhances active sites exposure. This work offers a simple and effective method for controlling the surface component of catalysts to enhance their catalytic performance, which has the potential to advance industrial water electrolysis technology.

Keywords: Electrically driven activation; Exposure of highly active sites; Oxygen evolution reaction; Phosphorus dissolution.