Self-Powered Water Splitting of NiFeN@FeN Bifunctional Catalyst Improved Catalytic Activity and Durability by Forming FeN on Catalyst Surface via the Kirkendall Effect.

Highly efficient water splitting electrocatalyst for producing hydrogen as a renewable energy source offers potential to achieve net-zero. However, it has significant challenges in using transition metal electrocatalysts as alternatives to noble metals due to their low efficiency and durability, furthermore, the reliance on electricity generation for electrocatalysts from fossil fuels leads to unavoidable carbon emissions. Here, a highly efficient self-powered water splitting system integrated is designed with triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and NiFeN@FeN catalyst with improved catalytic activity and durability.

Promoted Overall Water Splitting Catalytic Activity and Durability of NiFe Alloy by Designing N-Doped Carbon Encapsulation.

Combining an electrochemically stable material onto the surface of a catalyst can improve the durability of a transition metal catalyst, and enable the catalyst to operate stably at high current density. Herein, the contribution of the N-doped carbon shell (NCS) to the electrochemical properties is evaluated by comparing the characteristics of the NiFe@NCS catalyst with the N-doped carbon shell, and the NiFe catalyst. The synthesized NiFe@NCS catalyst has a distinct overpotential difference from the NiFe catalyst (η = 468.