Single Atom Iridium Decorated Nickel Alloys Supported on Segregated MoO2 for Alkaline Water Electrolysis

Abstract

AbstractHetero‐interface engineering has been widely employed to develop supported multicomponent catalysts for water electrolysis, but it still remains a substantial challenge for supported single atom alloys. Herein a conductive oxide MoO2 supported Ir1Ni single atom alloys (Ir1Ni@MoO2 SAAs) bifunctional electrocatalysts through surface segregation coupled with galvanic replacement reaction, where the Ir atoms are atomically anchored onto the surface of Ni nanoclusters via the Ir‐Ni coordination accompanied with electron transfer from Ni to Ir is reported. Benefiting from the unique structure, the Ir1Ni@MoO2 SAAs not only exhibit low overpotential of 48.6 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and Tafel slope of 19 mV dec−1 for hydrogen evolution reaction, but also show highly efficient alkaline water oxidation with overpotential of 280 mV at 10 mA cm−2. Their overall water electrolysis exhibits a low cell voltage of 1.52 V at 10 mA cm−2 and excellent durability. Experiments and theoretical calculations reveal that the Ir‐Ni interface effectively weakens hydrogen binding energy, and decoration of the Ir single atoms boost surface reconstruction of Ni species to enhance the coverage of intermediates (OH*) and switch the potential‐determining step. It is suggested that this approach opens up a promising avenue to design efficient and durable precious metal bifunctional electrocatalysts.