Journal of Alloys and Compounds, vol.1005, 2024 (SCI-Expanded)
Green hydrogen production through electrocatalytic water/seawater splitting has recently received significant attention. However, the practical utilization for this technique is still limited due to the poor performance and stability of electrocatalysts. Herein, a heterogeneous core-shell hybrid, containing Ni3S2 nanorod arrays and CoFe layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets, has been fabricated via a developed two-step hydrothermal and electrodeposition method. The build-in electronic field in the as-formed Mott–Schottky barrier endows the efficient electron transfer from CoFe LDH to Ni3S2, subsequently enhancing the reaction kinetics. The as-prepared Ni3S2@CoFe catalyst exhibits exceptional performance for oxygen evolution reaction (OER, η10 = 222 and 237 mV) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER, η10 = 83 and 109 mV) in 1 M KOH as well as alkaline seawater environments, respectively. Notably, it only requires a cell voltage of 1.51 and 1.55 V to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm[sbnd]2 for overall seawater and water splitting, respectively, outperforming the commercial benchmark Pt/C||RuO2 (1.56 V). This work paves a solid way for construction of Mott–Schottky catalysts for green hydrogen production and its beyond.