Ag nanoparticles anchored on MIL-100/nickel foam nanosheets as an electrocatalyst for efficient oxygen evolution reaction performance

Abstract Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) exhibit excellent application potential in the field of electrocatalysis. In this study, we first prepare MIL-100 nanosheets on nickel foam (MIL-100/NF) and then successfully anchor Ag nanoparticles (NPs) on the nanosheets (Ag@MIL-100/NF) for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysis. This strategy dramatically improves the conductivity of MIL-100 and the Ag NPs are uniformly dispersed on the nanosheets. The Ag@MIL-100/NF catalyst has excellent electrocatalytic performance and long-term corrosion resistance, with a low overpotential of 207 mV and a long-term stability of at least 100 h at a current density of 50 mA·cm−2. The experimental results demonstrate that this high OER catalytic performance is due to the improved charge transfer after loading Ag NPs, the combination of nanosheets and highly dispersed Ag NPs that expose more active sites and the adjusted chemical valence states of Fe and Ni in MIL-100. This work provides a surface decoration approach for the preparation of excellent catalysts directly used in the OER.