Enhancing Electrocatalytic Activity through Liquid-Phase Exfoliation of NiFe Layered Double Hydroxide Intercalated with Metal Phthalocyanines in the Presence of Graphene

Earth-abundant transition-metal-based catalysts are attractive for alkaline water electrolysis. However, their catalytic properties are often limited by their poor electrical conductivity. Here, we present a strategy for enhancing the electrical conductivity of NiFe layered double hydroxide (LDH) in order to further improve its properties as an electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline media. We show that NiFe LDH containing metal tetrasulfonate phthalocyanine in the interlayers between the NiFe oxide galleries can be coupled with graphene during liquid-phase exfoliation by taking advantage of their π-π stacking capabilities. A substantial enhancement in the electrocatalytic activity of NiFe LDH with respect to the OER was observed. Moreover, the activity and selectivity of the catalyst materials towards the oxygen reduction reaction were investigated, demonstrating that both the metal hydroxide layer and the interlayer species contribute to the electrocatalytic performance of the composite material.     

Layered Double Hydroxide Nanosheets with Multiple Vacancies Obtained by Dry Exfoliation as Highly Efficient Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalysts

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) with two-dimensional lamellar structures show excellent electrocatalytic properties. However, the catalytic activity of LDHs needs to be further improved as the large lateral size and thickness of the bulk material limit the number of exposed active sites. However, the development of efficient strategies to exfoliate bulk LDHs into stable monolayer LDH nanosheets with more exposed active sites is very challenging. On the other hand, the intrinsic activity of monolayer LDH nanosheets can be tuned by surface engineering. Herein, we have exfoliated bulk CoFe LDHs into ultrathin LDH nanosheets through Ar plasma etching, which also resulted in the formation of multiple vacancies (including O, Co, and Fe vacancies) in the ultrathin 2D nanosheets. Owing to their ultrathin 2D structure, the LDH nanosheets expose a greater number of active sites, and the multiple vacancies significantly improve the intrinsic activity in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER).     

Strong‐Coupled Cobalt Borate Nanosheets/Graphene Hybrid as Electrocatalyst for Water Oxidation Under Both Alkaline and Neutral Conditions

Developing highly active catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is of paramount importance for designing various renewable energy storage and conversion devices. Herein, we report the synthesis of a category of Co‐Pi analogue, namely cobalt‐based borate (Co‐B_i) ultrathin nanosheets/graphene hybrid by a room‐temperature synthesis approach. Benefiting from the high surface active sites exposure yield, enhanced electron transfer capacity, and strong synergetic coupled effect, this Co‐B_i NS/G hybrid shows high catalytic activity with current density of 10 mA cm^?2 at overpotential of 290 mV and Tafel slope of 53 mV dec^?1 in alkaline medium. Moreover, Co‐B_i NS/G electrocatalysts also exhibit promising performance under neutral conditions, with a low onset potential of 235 mV and high current density of 14.4 mA cm^?2 at 1.8 V, which is the best OER performance among well‐developed Co‐based OER electrocatalysts to date. Our finding paves a way to develop highly active OER electrocatalysts.     

Fe‐Doped Ni3C Nanodots in N‐Doped Carbon Nanosheets for Efficient Hydrogen‐Evolution and Oxygen‐Evolution Electrocatalysis

Uniform Ni₃C nanodots dispersed in ultrathin N‐doped carbon nanosheets were successfully prepared by carburization of the two dimensional (2D) nickel cyanide coordination polymer precursors. The Ni₃C based nanosheets have lateral length of about 200 nm and thickness of 10 nm. When doped with Fe, the Ni₃C based nanosheets exhibited outstanding electrocatalytic properties for both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). For example, 2 at % Fe (atomic percent) doped Ni₃C nanosheets depict a low overpotential (292 mV) and a small Tafel slope (41.3 mV dec⁻¹) for HER in KOH solution. An outstanding OER catalytic property is also achieved with a low overpotential of 275 mV and a small Tafel slope of 62 mV dec⁻¹ in KOH solution. Such nanodot‐incorporated 2D hybrid structures can serve as an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting.     

Hierarchical Hollow Nanoprisms Based on Ultrathin Ni‐Fe Layered Double Hydroxide Nanosheets with Enhanced Electrocatalytic Activity towards Oxygen Evolution

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is involved in various renewable energy systems, such as water‐splitting cells and metal–air batteries. Ni‐Fe layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have been reported as promising OER electrocatalysts in alkaline electrolytes. The rational design of advanced nanostructures for Ni‐Fe LDHs is highly desirable to optimize their electrocatalytic performance. Herein, we report a facile self‐templated strategy for the synthesis of novel hierarchical hollow nanoprisms composed of ultrathin Ni‐Fe LDH nanosheets. Tetragonal nanoprisms of nickel precursors were first synthesized as the self‐sacrificing template. Afterwards, these Ni precursors were consumed during the hydrolysis of iron(II) sulfate for the simultaneous growth of a layer of Ni‐Fe LDH nanosheets on the surface. The resultant Ni‐Fe LDH hollow prisms with large surface areas manifest high electrocatalytic activity towards the OER with low overpotential, small Tafel slope, and remarkable stability.     

Identification of Key Reversible Intermediates in Self‐Reconstructed Nickel‐Based Hybrid Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Evolution

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) has been explored extensively for reliable hydrogen supply to boost the energy conversion efficiency. The superior OER performance of newly developed non‐noble metal electrocatalysts has concealed the identification of the real active species of the catalysts. Now, the critical active phase in nickel‐based materials (represented by NiNPS) was directly identified by observing the dynamic surface reconstruction during the harsh OER process via combining in situ Raman tracking and ex situ microscopy and spectroscopy analyses. The irreversible phase transformation from NiNPS to α‐Ni(OH)₂ and reversible phase transition between α‐Ni(OH)₂ and γ‐NiOOH prior to OER demonstrate γ‐NiOOH as the key active species for OER. The hybrid catalyst exhibits 48‐fold enhanced catalytic current at 300 mV and remarkably reduced Tafel slope to 46 mV dec^?1, indicating the greatly accelerated catalytic kinetics after surface evolution.     

Substituent position effect of Co porphyrin on oxygen electrocatalysis

Substituent effect of metal porphyrin molecular catalysts plays a crucial role in determining the catalytic activity of oxygen electrocatalysis. Herein, substituent position effect of Co porphyrins on oxygen electrocatalysis, including the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), was investigated. Two Co porphyrins, namely 2,4,6-OMe-CoP and 3,4,5-OMe-CoP, were selected as the research objects. The ORR and OER performance was evaluated by drop-coating molecular catalysts on carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The resulted 3,4,5-OMe-CoP/CNT exhibited high bifunctional electrocatalytic activities and better long-term stability for both ORR and OER than 2,4,6-OMe-CoP/CNT. Furthermore, when applied in the Zn-air battery, 3,4,5-OMe-CoP/CNT exhibited comparable performance to that with precious metal-based materials. The enhanced catalytic activity may be attributed to the improved charge transfer rate, mass transfer and hydrophilicity. This work provides an effective strategy to further enhance catalytic activity by introducing substituent position effect, which is of great importance for developing more efficient energy-related electrocatalysts.     

In situ conversion builds MIL-101@NiFe-LDH heterojunction structures to enhance the oxygen evolution reaction

The construction of rich phase interfaces to increase active reaction area in hybrid materials is an excellent strategy to improve electrochemical performance. Under this guideline, MIL-101@OX-metal organic framework (MOF) is constructed by the "MOF on MOF" method, then converts to MIL-101@NiFe-layered double hydroxides (LDH) by in situ transformation in alkaline solution. MIL-101@NiFe-LDH shows excellent electrochemical water oxidation performance. It needs only an overpotential of 215 mV to drive 10 mA/cm² of oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which is less than that of NiFe-LDH, MIL-101. In addition, MIL-101@NiFe-LDH has the smallest Tafel slope (55.1 mV/dec) compared with NiFe-LDH (61.1 mV/dec), MIL-101 (150.8 mV/dec). The excellent water oxidation activity is due to the high phase interfaces derived from high specific surface area of MOF. This work offers an alternative method for making MOF/LDH heterostructures with an optimized phase interfaces and provides new insights for OER.     

CeO2修饰Ni3S2纳米片用于高效电催化析氧

电化学水分解制氢作为重要的生产氢能的新能源技术,包括氢气析出反应(HER)和氧气析出反应(OER).然而,OER进行的是多步电子转移过程,动力学过程缓慢且过电位高,严重制约了电解水制氢的发展.因此开发低成本、高效稳定的非贵金属催化剂替代贵金属催化剂(RuO2,IrO2)来降低过电位,减少能源消耗十分必要.Ni₃S₂由于其高导电性、高活性、低成本等优点,具有作为贵金属催化剂替代品的广阔应用前景,但其OER性能仍需进一步提高.对已有的有效OER催化剂进行表界面调控是提高催化剂性能的一种有效策略.CeO₂中的Ce3+和Ce4+价态之间可以灵活过渡,使其具有良好的电子/离子导电性、可逆的表面氧离子交换和较高的储氧能力.CeO₂的多价性使其有机会与其它基质产生强烈的电子相互作用,良好的电子/离子导电性和较高的储氧能力是提高催化剂析氧活性的有利因素.因此,用CeO₂对Ni₃S₂进行修饰是提高其析氧活性的有效途径.基于此,本文运用水热和电沉积相结合的方法将CeO₂修饰到Ni₃S₂纳米片上,制备得到生长于泡沫镍上的Ni₃S₂-CeO₂纳米片阵列(Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF),并运用X射线粉末衍射(XRD)、扫描电镜(SEM)、透射电镜(TEM)、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)等手段进行了表征,以三电极系统测试了其电催化析氧性能及稳定性,并通过密度泛函理论计算进行了验证.XRD结果表明,复合材料中确实存在Ni₃S₂和CeO₂.通过SEM发现,泡沫镍基底上均匀分布着Ni₃S₂纳米片阵列;电沉积CeO₂后,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂仍保持其纳米片特性,但表面变得粗糙.Ni₃S₂-CeO₂的TEM结果也证实了纳米片结构的形成,高分辨率TEM图像清晰的显示出Ni₃S₂和CeO₂之间具有明显的界面.XPS结果表明,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂的Ni 2p的结合能与Ni₃S₂相比出现负位移.与纯CeO₂的Ce 3d谱图相比,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂杂化体系中Ce4+的比例明显增加,表明Ce的价态发生了重排,部分电子转移给了Ni元素.这些结果均说明Ni₃S₂与CeO₂之间存在着较强的电子相互作用.相应的电催化测试结果显示,在1.0 M KOH中,当电流密度达到20 mA cm^–2时,Ni₃S₂/NF需提供356 mV的过电位,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF只需264 mV的过电位,仅次于RuO2/NF.而且,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF在中性条件下也显示出了较理想的析氧活性.Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF的Tafel斜率明显低于CeO₂/NF和Ni₃S₂/NF,表明其具有良好的OER反应动力学.循环伏安法和计时电位法结果均表明,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF具有良好的电化学稳定性.电化学阻抗谱测试结果表明,与Ni₃S₂/NF和CeO₂/NF相比,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF明显具有更小的半圆直径,说明其电荷转移阻抗更小,进一步表明CeO₂的修饰有助于催化过程中电子的快速转移.在非法拉第区域的循环伏安扫描曲线以及拟合扫描速度对电容电流曲线结果显示,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF的最大电容值大于CeO₂/NF和Ni₃S₂/NF,表明其暴露了更多的活性位点,具有更大的电化学活性表面积;而且,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF在400和500 mV时的电催化析氧转换频率明显高于Ni₃S₂/NF和CeO₂/NF,进一步说明Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF具有更高的本征催化活性.密度泛函理论计算表明,由于^*OH,^*O和^*OOH与Ni₃S₂-CeO₂中的Ni和Ce原子相互作用的存在,使得反应中间产物与Ni₃S₂-CeO₂之间的结合强度较纯Ni₃S₂或CeO₂强,使其显示出了更高的OER性能.在经过24 h连续电解后,SEM和TEM结果均表明,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF材料仍保持了其纳米片形貌.稳定性测试后的XPS结果表明,Ni 2p对应的峰强度降低,而与氧化镍物种对应的峰强度增强;S元素在Ni₃S₂-CeO₂表面的信号强度明显降低.根据文献报道,在强烈的氧化环境下,过渡金属硫化物会部分转化为氧化物或氢氧化物,这通常被认为是OER过程的实际催化物种.     

One-step synthesis of Fe-Ni hydroxide nanosheets derived from bimetallic foam for efficient electrocatalytic oxygen evolution and overall water splitting

For the first time, the Fe-Ni LDH nanosheets were prepared through simple one-step hydrothermal treatment of Fe-Ni bimetallic foam both as the substrate and Fe/Ni sources. The ratio of Ni/Fe elements played the important role in realizing the optimal catalytic activities for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). An alkaline water electrolyzer was constructed with the Fe-Ni hydroxide nanosheets/Fe-Ni alloy foam-60% Fe as anode and Ni(OH)₂/Fe-Ni alloy foam-25% Fe as cathode, which displays superior electrolytic performance (affording 10 mA/cm² at 1.62 V) and lasting durability.     

NiSe2-CoSe2 with a Hybrid Nanorods and Nanoparticles Structure for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Hetero-structure induced high performance catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction(OER)in the water splitting reaction has received increased attention.Herein,we demonstrated a novel catalyst system of NiSe₂-CoSe₂ consisting of nanorods and nanoparticles for the efficient OER in the alkaline electrolyte.This catalyst system can be easily fabricated via a low-temperature selenization of the solvothermal synthesized NiCo(OH)x precursor and the unique morphology of hybrid nanorods and nanoparticles was found by the electron microscopy analysis.The high valence state of the metal species was indicated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study and a strong electronic effect was found in the NiSe₂-CoSe₂ catalyst system compared to their counterparts.As a result,NiSe₂-CoSe₂ exhibited high catalytic performance with a low overpotential of 250 mV to reach 10 mA·cm^-2 for OER in the alkaline solution.Furthermore,high catalytic stability and catalytic kinetics were also observed.The superior performance can be attributed to the high valence states of Ni and Co and their strong synergetic coupling effect between the nanorods and nanoparticles,which could accelerate the charge transfer and offer abundant electrocatalytic active sites.The current work offers an efficient hetero-structure catalyst system for OER,and the results are helpful for the catalysis understanding.     

Improved Electrocatalytic Activity and Stability by Single Iridium Atoms on Iron-based Layered Double Hydroxides for Oxygen Evolution

Full understanding to the origin of the catalytic performance of a supported nanocatalyst from the points of view of both the active component and support is significant for the achievement of high performance. Herein, based on a model electrocatalyst of single-iridium-atom-doped iron (Fe)-based layered double hydroxides (LDH) for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), we reveal the first completed origin of the catalytic performance of such supported nanocatalysts. Specially, besides the activity enhancement of Ir sites by LDH support, the stability of surface Fe sites is enhanced by doped Ir sites: DFT calculation shows that the Ir sites can reduce the activity and enhance the stability of the nearby Fe sites; while further finite element simulations indicate, the stability enhancement of distant Fe sites could be attributed to the much low concentration of OER reactant (hydroxyl ions, OH⁻) around them induced by the much fast consumption of OH⁻ on highly active Ir sites. These new findings about the interaction between the main active components and supports are applicable in principle to other heterogeneous nanocatalysts and provide a completed understanding to the catalytic performance of heterogeneous nanocatalysts.     

Bifunctional Electrocatalyst with 0D/2D Heterostructure for Highly Efficient Hydrogen and Oxygen Generation

A novel MoS₂ quantum dots/CoSe₂ nanosheet (MoS₂ QDs/CoSe₂) hybrid with 0D/2D heterostructure has been developed. The CoSe₂ nanosheets (NSs) enable an excellent oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity with increasing vacancy configuration on one hand, while the MoS₂ QDs serve as an eminent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst on the other. By integrating MoS₂ QDs and CoSe₂ NSs, the hybrid exhibits excellent electrocatalytic performances in HER and OER. The unique 0D/2D hetero‐interface increases the exposed active sites and facilitates electron transfer, thereby boosting the electrocatalytic activity. Relatively low overpotentials of 82 mV and 280 mV are required to drive the current density of 10 mA/cm² for HER and OER, with corresponding Tafel slopes of 69 and 75 mV/dec, respectively. As such, this work provides an efficient yet simple approach to construct bifunctional electrocatalysts with enhanced activity and stability.     

Metal-organic framework membranes: From synthesis to electrocatalytic applications

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), as an emerging family of porous inorganic-organic crystal materials, exhibit widely applications in gas storage and separation, drug release, sensing, and catalysis, owing to easily adjustable pore sizes, uniformly distributed metal centers, high surface areas, and tunable functionalities. However, MOF crystal powders are usually difficult to be directly applied into specific devices because of their brittleness, insolubility and low compatibility. Therefore, to expand versatile MOF membranes with robustness and operational flexibility is urgent to satisfy practical applications. Although numerous reports have reviewed the synthesis and applications of MOF membranes, relatively few reports the electrocatalytic properties based on MOF membranes. Herein, this mini-review provides an overview of preparation of MOF membranes, including directed synthesis, secondary growth and electrochemical deposition method. Meanwhile, fabrication of ultrathin 2D MOF nanosheets those can be also defined as a kind of nanoscale MOF membranes is also mentioned. Electrocatalytic performance of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) for diverse MOF membranes/nanosheets and their derivatives are introduced.     

Electric-Field Assisted In Situ Hydrolysis of Bulk Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs) into Ultrathin Metal Oxyhydroxide Nanosheets for Efficient Oxygen Evolution

Facile preparation of low-cost electrocatalysts for efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) remains a big challenge. Herein, a novel strategy for ultrafast (20 s) transformation of bulk metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) into ultrathin metal oxyhydroxide nanosheets for efficient OER has been developed. For two isomeric MOFs ( FJI-H25Fe and FJI-H25FeCo ), only the metastable FJI-H25FeCo bulk can immediately transform into FeCo-oxyhydroxides nanosheets through electric-field assisted hydrolysis. The potential evolution process from MOF bulk to FeCo-oxyhydroxides nanosheets has been investigated in detail. The as-made nanosheets exhibit excellent OER performances, showing an extremely low overpotential of 231 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm⁻², a relatively small Tafel slope of 42 mV dec⁻¹, and long-term durability of at least 30 h. This work not only provides a novel strategy for facile preparation of low-cost and efficient OER electrocatalysts, but also represents a new way for preparation of metal oxyhydroxides nanosheets with good crystallinity and morphology, and a fresh method for mild synthesis of nanosized derivatives from MOF materials.     

Ru-Doping Enhanced Electrocatalysis of Metal–Organic Framework Nanosheets toward Overall Water Splitting

An Ru-doping strategy is reported to substantially improve both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalytic activity of Ni/Fe-based metal–organic framework (MOF) for overall water splitting. As-synthesized Ru-doped Ni/Fe MIL-53 MOF nanosheets grown on nickel foam (MIL-53(Ru-NiFe)@NF) afford HER and OER current density of 50 mA cm⁻² at an overpotential of 62 and 210 mV, respectively, in alkaline solution with a nominal Ru loading of ≈110 μg cm⁻². When using as both anodic and cathodic (pre-)catalyst, MIL-53(Ru-NiFe)@NF enables overall water splitting at a current density of 50 mA cm⁻² for a cell voltage of 1.6 V without iR compensation, which is much superior to state-of-the-art RuO₂-Pt/C-based electrolyzer. It is discovered that the Ru-doping considerably modulates the growth of MOF to form thin nanosheets, and enhances the intrinsic HER electrocatalytic activity by accelerating the sluggish Volmer step and improving the intermediate oxygen adsorption for increased OER catalytic activity.     

Heterostructures of NiFe LDH hierarchically assembled on MoS2 nanosheets as high-efficiency electrocatalysts for overall water splitting

Typically, rational interfacial engineering can effectively modify the adsorption energy of active hydrogen molecules to improve water splitting efficiency. NiFe layered double hydroxide (NiFe LDH) composite, an efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst, suffers from slow hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) kinetics, restricting its application for overall water splitting. Herein, we construct the hierarchical MoS₂/NiFe LDH nanosheets with a heterogeneous interface used for HER and OER. Benefiting the hierarchical heterogeneous interface optimized hydrogen Gibbs free energy, tens of exposed active sites, rapid mass- and charge-transfer processes, the MoS₂/NiFe LDH displays a highly efficient synergistic electrocatalytic effect. The MoS₂/NiFe LDH electrode in 1 mol/L KOH exhibits excellent HER activity, only 98 mV overpotential at 10 mA/cm². Significantly, when it assembled as anode and cathode for overall water splitting, only 1.61 V cell voltage was required to achieve 10 mA/cm² with excellent durability (50 h).     

Energy-efficient hydrogen production coupled with methanol oxidation using NiFe LDH@NiMo alloy heterostructure

The traditional electrochemical water splitting is extremely restricted by the sluggish kinetics of the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this context, replacing OER with a more thermodynamic favorable oxidation reaction, such as methanol oxidation reaction (MOR), is an effective strategy to improve the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) efficiency while still obtaining some valuable by-products. In this work, nickel-iron layered double-hydroxide [NiFe LDH]@NiMo alloy heterostructure is synthesized by electrodeposition process and its bi-functional electrocatalytic activities for both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) are evaluated. For the HER, the catalyst exhibits low overpotential of 82.5 mV at 100 mA/cm², with a Tafel slope of 61 mV/dec as well as splendid long-term stability. For the MOR, the required potential decreases by 74 mV at 100 mA/cm² compared to oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Moreover, 97% process yields toward value-added formic acid (HCOOH) are obtained at the anode, with a faradaic efficiency of approximately 100% for HER at the cathode. The superior catalytic performance results from the synergic contribution of NiFe LDH and NiMo alloy. The formation of NiFe LDH@NiMo alloy heterostructure leads to the redistribution of electrons among nickel (Ni), iron (Fe) and molybdenum (Mo) elements. Therefore, the charge transfer process has been greatly promoted. This study provides a scalable energy saving strategy for hydrogen energy development.     

Pnictogen (As,Sb, Bi) Nanosheets for Electrochemical Applications Are Produced by Shear Exfoliation Using Kitchen Blenders

Layered materials are of high importance because of their anisotropy and as a source of 2D materials. Whilst there is a plethora of multi‐elemental 2D materials, the number mono‐elemental 2D materials is rather limited. Herein, we demonstrate that aqueous shear exfoliation can be used to obtain As, Sb, and Bi exfoliated nanosheets. Morphological and chemical characterization of the exfoliated materials shows a decrease in thickness, sheet‐to‐nanosheet scale, and partial oxidation owing to a higher surface area. The electrochemical performance is tested in terms of inherent electrochemistry, electron transfer, and sensing applications as demonstrated with ascorbic acid. Potential energy‐related applications are evaluated in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), with shear‐exfoliated Sb having the best electrochemical performance overall. These findings will have a profound impact on the preparation and application of 2D mono‐elemental materials.     

Facilely Tuning Porous NiCo2O4 Nanosheets with Metal Valence‐State Alteration and Abundant Oxygen Vacancies as Robust Electrocatalysts Towards Water Splitting

Great efforts in developing clean electrochemical water splitting technology leads to the rational design and synthesis of highly efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts with low overpotential and fast reaction kinetics. Herein, we focus on the role that morphology and composition play in the OER performance to rationally design freestanding 3D porous NiCo₂O₄ nanosheets with metal valence states alteration and abundant oxygen vacancies as robust electrocatalysts towards water splitting. Besides metal valence‐state alteration, surface modification regarding the evolution of oxygen vacancies is facilely realized upon the sodium borohydride treatment, which is beneficial for the enhanced OER performance. Taking advantage of the porous nanostructures and abundant surface activity sites with high reactivity, the resultant nanostructures exhibit excellent OER activity and stability in alkaline electrolytes that outperform that of pristine NiCo₂O₄ and commercial RuO₂, thus holding great potential for the water splitting.