A high-performance oxygen evolution electrode of nanoporous Ni-based solid solution by simulating natural meteorites.

The nanoporous Ni-based solid solution electrode inspired by mimicking the components of natural Gibeon meteorites fallen from the sky brings favourable electrochemical and mechanical performances for the oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline medium. This study provide a promising low-cost and environment-friendly approach to prepare nanoporous architectures based on non-precious metal solid solutions for high-efficiency water electrolysis towards large-scale utilization of clean hydrogen energy. • Nanoporous Ni-based solid solution by Mimicking Natural Gibeon Meteorites. • An metal oxyhydroxide layer of approximately 9 nm thickness for the OER. • Robust electrochemical and mechanical performance for the OER in alkaline medium. Transforming the intermittent solar and wind energies into green hydrogen energy by water electrolysis is deemed to be a promising approach to substitute traditional fossil energies. However, the scarcity of precious IrO 2 /RuO 2 -based metal oxides for oxygen evolution reaction hinders the large-scale utilization. Here, based on the nanoscale Kirkendall effect, we fabricate nanoporous γ-Ni based solid solution with the simulated FeCoNi surface compositions of Gibeon meteorites by a facile microwave sintering method. A metal (oxy)hydroxide layer with a thickness of approximately 9 nm was formed on the surface of as-prepared electrode after aging, achieving an overpotential of only 254 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and a low Tafel slope of 37.0 mV dec−1. The electrode exhibits outstanding long-term stability in a wide range of current densities without compromising the electrocatalytic activity, which is attributed to the 3D-interconnected nanoporous structure, synergistic effect of different species, high conductivity and excellent wettability. The fabrication of nanoporous non-precious solid solution architectures which mimic naturally-formed materials provides a feasible strategy for the design of high-performance electrocatalysts towards clean energy applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]