Leaf‐Structure‐Inspired Through‐Hole Electrode with Boosted Mass Transfer and Photothermal Effect for Oxygen Evolution Reactions

Abstract

The sluggish kinetics of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) remains a bottleneck for the electrocatalytic water splitting. In addition to improving the intrinsic activity of electrocatalysts, the electrode structure and external environment also have a significant influence on catalytic performance. Inspired by photosynthesis in plant leaves, a photothermal conversion strategy is proposed via the decoration of photothermal responsive MoS2/FeCoNiS‐nanotube (MoS2/FeCoNiS‐NT) on designed through‐hole porous nickel foam (PNF), defined as MoS2/FeCoNiS‐NT@PNF, to boost OER performance. The PNF facilitated bubble transport in OER by mimicking stomata structure of the leaf, and simultaneously, the MoS2/FeCoNiS‐NT increases light absorption and photothermal conversion by simulating the leaf epidermis. Benefiting from bionic structure and functional design, the MoS2/FeCoNiS‐NT@PNF electrode exhibits highly effective oxygen‐evolving ability and excellent photothermal conversion capacity (surface temperature: 25 °C → 52.3 °C, AM1.5G), which increases the intrinsic activity of electrocatalysts. With the assistance of optimized electrode structure and the photothermal effect, the MoS2/FeCoNiS‐NT@PNF electrode exhibits a low overpotential of 214 mV to achieve 50 mA cm−2. This research reveals that tuning the electrode structure can promote light absorption in the electrolyte in favor of OER performance, which can serve as an inspiration for the development of high‐performance catalytic electrodes.

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