Microenvironment reconstitution of highly active Ni single atoms on oxygen-incorporated Mo2C for water splitting

Abstract The rational design of efficient bifunctional single-atom electrocatalysts for industrial water splitting and the comprehensive understanding of its complex catalytic mechanisms remain challenging. Here, we report a Ni single atoms supported on oxygen-incorporated Mo 2 C via Ni-O-Mo bridge bonds, that gives high oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) bifunctional activity. By ex situ synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy and electron microscopy, we found that after HER, the coordination number and bond lengths of Ni-O and Ni-Mo (Ni-O-Mo) were all altered, yet the Ni species still remain atomically dispersed. In contrast, after OER, the atomically dispersed Ni were…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: U22B2071, 52173232, 52272186, 21925202, 21872008, 22105116, 22309011
• BI
  Beijing Institute of Technology
• BI
  Beijing Institute of Technology Research Fund Program for Young Scholars
• BS
  Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility