High current density electrodeposition of NiFe/Nickel Foam as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting in alkaline electrolyte

Developing highly efficient and inexpensive bifunctional electrocatalysts is a grand challenge in water splitting process. In this article, NiFe electrocatalysts on nickel foam are prepared by electrodeposition method using high current density. The optimized NiFe electrocatalyst presented excellent electrocatalytic activities in 1.0 M KOH medium with low overpotentials of 100 mV for hydrogen evolution reaction and 230 mV for oxygen evolution reaction to achieve 10 mA·cm−2, respectively. Moreover, the optimized NiFe electrocatalyst as bifunctional electrocatalyst toward overall water splitting only needs a small cell voltage of 1.57 V to obtain 10 mA·cm−2. The extremely electrocatalytic performance of NiFe electrocatalyst is attributed to the fast charge transfer kinetics, large electrochemical surface area, and the conductive nickel foam.