Solar hydrogen evolution from water is a necessary step to overcome the challenges of rising energy demand and associated environmental concerns. Low-cost photocatalytic architectures based on polymeric light absorbers coupled...

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The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with its sluggish kinetics has imposed a significant barrier to the sustainable and green generation of hydrogen fuel (via electrolysis of water) and the development of metal-air batteries. In this study, we report an efficient and novel OER electrocatalyst based on NiSe 2 nanoparticles (NPs) and the naturally abundant halloysite clay mineral. The NiSe 2 /halloysite nanocomposite (NiSe 2 /H) was prepared by a simple one-step hydrothermal route. The electrocatalytic performance of the as-synthesized nanocomposite and its components (pristine NiSe 2 and halloysite) toward OER in 1.0 KOH solution was examined. The NiSe 2 /H nanocomposite exhibited a significantly enhanced catalytic activity in OER, with a low overpotential of 235 mV (measured at the current density of 60 mA cm −2 ), a Tafel slope of 146 mV dec −1 , and an outstanding long-term electrochemical durability for 16 h. Moreover, this nanocomposite required only 340 mV of overpotential to deliver the high current density of 250 mA cm −2 . Further investigations revealed that the improved catalytic performance of NiSe 2 /H can be attributed to the increased number of active sites and the optimized adsorption energy of OH − . These results indicate that NiSe 2 /H is a promising non-precious metal-based catalyst for alkaline OER.

The development of efficient and cost-effective catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction is highly desirable for applications that are based on sustainable and clean technologies. In this study, we report...