Nitridated Nickel Mesh as Industrial Water and Alcohol Oxidation Catalyst: Reconstruction and Iron-Incorporation Matters

Nickel mesh (NM) is used in industrial alkaline water electrolyzers due to its cost-effectiveness and conductivity. However, the decisive factors that advance the efficiency and sustainability of such electrodes are only partially understood. Herein, an efficient NM-based electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction is developed via a single-step nitridation route on a commercially used NM substrate and sheds light on the role of reconstruction and iron content to boost catalyst performance and durability. Remarkably, the activated Ni3N/NM catalyst required an overpotential of 0.46 V to deliver 1 A cm(-2) in ambient conditions (1 M KOH, 25 degrees C). This overpotential decreases substantially to 0.28 V in industrially relevant conditions (6 M KOH, 85 degrees C) and is maintained for 235 h. Ni3N/NM partially transformed into NiFe layered (oxy)hydroxide in both conditions, while the active structure's Fe content is reconstruction condition dependent (temperature and KOH concentration). Electrodes reconstructed under industrially relevant conditions performed better than ambient reconstructed ones due to a more pronounced iron-incorporation from KOH and the evolution of porous morphologies. In industrial environments, activated Ni3N/NM excels in selectively converting benzyl alcohol to benzoic acid, achieving an impressive yield of 96%.