Lyu Xiang, Cullen David A, Pupucevski Max, Tao Runming, Meyer Harry M, Yang Jun, Li Jianlin, Toops Todd J, Keever Tamara J, Khaing Hnin, Tong Emily, Lattimer Judith, Grejtak Tomas, David Arregui-Mena J, Serov Alexey
Electrification and Energy Infrastructures Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA.
Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA.
Commun Chem. 2025 May 14;8(1):150. doi: 10.1038/s42004-025-01549-4.
In the past few decades, tremendous attention has been devoted to enhancing the activity of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts for hydrogen production, while the cost and long-term stability of catalysts, which can play an even more important role in industrialization, have been much less emphasized. Herein, we engineered an OER electrode from abundant stainless steel (SS) via facile approaches, and the obtained electrode consists of a Ni-rich oxide surface layer with a Fe-rich metal substrate. An outstanding activity was observed with an overpotential of 316 mV at 100 mA cm in 1 M KOH electrolyte. Additionally, an electrode self-replenishing concept is proposed in which a Ni-rich catalyst layer can be regenerated from a metallic substrate due to the difference in diffusion and dissolution rates of metal oxides/hydroxides, and this regeneration is validated by various characterizations. A recorded degradation rate of 0.012 was observed at 1000 mA cm for 1000 h. The facile engineering of OER electrodes from SS combined with the self-replenishing catalyst can potentially address the cost, activity, and long-term stability barriers.
在过去几十年里，人们极大地关注提高用于制氢的析氧反应（OER）催化剂的活性，而对于在工业化中可能发挥更重要作用的催化剂成本和长期稳定性则关注较少。在此，我们通过简便方法从丰富的不锈钢（SS）制备了一种OER电极，所得电极由富含铁的金属基底和富含镍的氧化物表面层组成。在1 M KOH电解液中，当电流密度为100 mA cm时，过电位为316 mV，表现出优异的活性。此外，还提出了一种电极自补充概念，即由于金属氧化物/氢氧化物的扩散和溶解速率不同，富含镍的催化剂层可从金属基底再生，并且通过各种表征验证了这种再生。在1000 mA cm下进行1000小时测试，记录到的降解速率为0.012。从SS简便制备OER电极并结合自补充催化剂，有可能解决成本、活性和长期稳定性方面的障碍。
