Stainless steel supported NiS/CeS nanocomposite for significantly enhanced oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline media

Abstract

The discovery of highly active and cost-effective materials capable of catalyzing the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is essential for water splitting. In the present study, we developed a new method for producing the structural components of advanced non-precious metal electrocatalysts NiS/CeS nanocomposite supported on stainless steel strip (SSS) represented as NiS/CeS/SSS that are both innovative and practical. To accomplish a current density of 10 mA cm(-2), the NiS/CeS/SSS requires OER overpotential of 289 mV, which is smaller than the pure NiS/SSS (319 mV) and CeS/SSS (309 mV), and with enhanced stability of 40 h tested in 1.0 M KOH electrolyte. The higher efficiency of OER is due to the strong electrical contacts between NiS/SSS and CeS/SSS, the availability of active centers, and also the lower charge transfer resistance.