Heteroatom doping and heterojunction interfacial on Cr-FeP/NiMoO₄/NF synergistically triggering oxygen evolution reaction

The integration of heterostructures and doping heteroatoms is an efficient way to improve the performance of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, the heterostructured Cr-FeP/NiMoO₄ hierarchical structure on nickel foam (Cr-FeP/NiMoO₄/NF) with three-dimension (3D) architecture, heterogeneous interface and cationic doping was successfully achieved by a multi-step technique that included hydrothermal and low-temperature phosphatization processes. The interface interactions at the heterojunction promote electron transfer and facilitate effective charge separation, which helps to decrease overpotentials in reactions the OER. Furthermore, the synergistic effect of Cr atom doping and heterojunction structure further adjusts the structure of Cr-FeP-NiMoO₄ electrons and enhances the adsorption of reaction intermediates, thus accelerating the reaction rate. The Cr-FeP/NiMoO₄/NF composite has excellent electrocatalytic properties during the OER. It has an overpotential of 236 mV at a current density of 100 mA cm⁻², a Tafel slope of 84.0 mV dec⁻¹ and remarkable stability when maintained at 100 mA cm⁻² for 50 h. The integration of heteroatom doping technology and heterojunction structure provides a new feasible way for green clean energy conversion and industrial prospects.