Nb Doping Induced the Formation of Protective Layer to Improve the Stability of Fe-NiS for Seawater Electrolysis.

The seawater electrolysis to produce hydrogen is a significant topic on alleviating the energy crisis. Here, the Fe, Nb-NiS catalyst is prepared by metal-doping strategy, and it shows high oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity in alkaline medium, and only needs 1.491 V to deliver a current density of 100 mA cm in simulated seawater. Using Fe, Nb-NiS as a bifunctional catalyst, the two-electrode electrolyzer only requires a voltage of 1.751 V (without impedance compensation) to drive the current density of 50 mA cm, and can run over 150 h stably in the simulated seawater. Importantly, In situ Raman test demonstrates that the outstanding performance of Fe, Nb-NiS in simulated seawater is ascribed to the in situ formed sulfate protective layer induced by Nb doping, which can effectively inhibit the corrosion of chloride ion, while the protective layer is absent for Fe-NiS. The stable operation of simulated seawater electrolysis under industrial current density further confirms the stability improvement mechanism of forming protective layer. In short, this study provides a new strategy of using Nb dopants inducing the formation of protective layer to enhance the stability of seawater electrolysis.