Amorphous Mo-Fe-Ni-S nanospheres electrochemically deposited on Ni foam for boosting water oxygen performances.

• Amorphous Mo-Fe-Ni-S nanospheres were electrochemically deposited on Ni foam at room temperature. • The as-obtained Mo-Fe-Ni-S/NF electrode exhibited excellent OER electrocatalytic activity. • A low overpotential of 275 mV was required to reach a current density of 100 mA cm−2 for OER. • The Mo-Fe-Ni-S/NF electrode exhibited good long-term stability at the low or high current density. Exploiting non-noble metal oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts with adequate electrocatalytic activity and long durability has become one of keys to realize the overall water splitting to generate hydrogen with a low cost. Here, a cost-effective and straightforward electrodeposition approach was adopted for fast preparation of Mo-incorporated iron-nickel-sulfide amorphous nanospheres on nickel foam (labeled as Mo-Fe-Ni-S/NF) at room temperature. It was found that in 1.0 M KOH solution, the as-deposited Mo-Fe-Ni-S/NF electrode required overpotentials of 230/257/275 mV to launch the current densities of 10/50/100 mA cm−2, respectively, displaying high catalytic activity for OER. Furthermore, at the current densities of 10 or 500 mA cm−2, the as-obtained Mo-Fe-Ni-S/NF electrode could continuously work for more than 260 h without iR compensation, indicating good long-term stability at the low or high current density. The above excellent OER electrocatalytic performances were primarily ascribed to the synergistic impact of diverse components. Amorphous Ni-Fe-Mo-S nanospheres was electrochemically deposited on nickel foam as an electrocatalyst for water oxidation reaction. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]