Nagappan Sreenivasan, Gurusamy Hemalatha, Minhas Harpriya, Karmakar Arun, Ravichandran S, Pathak Biswarup, Kundu Subrata
Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201002, India.
Electrochemical Process Engineering (EPE) Division, CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI), Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, 630006, India.
Small Methods. 2025 May;9(5):e2401655. doi: 10.1002/smtd.202401655. Epub 2024 Dec 17.
Effective first-row transition metal-based electrocatalysts are crucial for large-scale hydrogen energy generation and anion exchange membrane (AEM) devices in water splitting. The present work describes that SmNiFe-LDH nanosheets on nickel foam are used as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for water splitting and AEM water electrolyzer study. Tuning the Ni-to-Fe ratios in NiFe-LDH and doping with Sm ions improves the electrical structure and intrinsic activity. SmNiFe-LDH has higher oxygen evolution reaction (OER), HER, and TWS activity, achieving 10 mA cm⁻ current density at lower overpotentials (230 mV, 95 mV, and 1.62 V, respectively). In AEMWE cells, SmNiFe-LDH as a cathode and anode pair exhibits outstanding activity (0.9 A cm⁻ at 2 V) and stability over 120 h. Density Functional Theory (DFT) investigations reveal that the Sm doping in NiFe-LDH surface enhances its bifunctional activity toward OER and HER. These findings emphasize the potential of non-noble composites for long-term water electrolysis in total water splitting and AEMWE applications.
有效的第一排过渡金属基电催化剂对于大规模氢能生产以及水分解中的阴离子交换膜（AEM）装置至关重要。目前的工作描述了泡沫镍上的SmNiFe-LDH纳米片被用作水分解的双功能电催化剂以及AEM水电解槽研究。调整NiFe-LDH中的Ni与Fe比例并掺杂Sm离子可改善其电子结构和本征活性。SmNiFe-LDH具有更高的析氧反应（OER）、析氢反应（HER）和全水解（TWS）活性，在较低过电位（分别为230 mV、95 mV和1.62 V）下实现10 mA cm⁻²的电流密度。在AEMWE电池中，SmNiFe-LDH作为阴极和阳极对表现出出色的活性（在2 V时为0.9 A cm⁻²）并在120小时内保持稳定。密度泛函理论（DFT）研究表明，NiFe-LDH表面的Sm掺杂增强了其对OER和HER的双功能活性。这些发现强调了非贵金属复合材料在全水分解和AEMWE应用中长期水电解的潜力。
