Templated Synthesis of Nickel-Iron Layered Double Hydroxide for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation: Towards the Development of Non-Precious-Metal Catalysts

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have recently attracted intense research attention because of their applications in the development of highly active and cost-effective electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction and in the fields of drug delivery, energy storage, for example. In this work, we report a cheap and simple route for the synthesis of nickel-iron LDH (Ni-Fe LDH) using an iron-based metal-organic framework, Fe MIL-88 as a template. The prepared Ni-Fe LDH is characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron micro-scopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques. Ni-Fe LDH is found to be highly active and stable for water oxidation in alkaline solution as compared to commercial Pt/C. The concept of using a metal-organic framework as a structure-directing agent to synthesize Ni-Fe LDH and the use of the material for the oxygen evolution reaction is explored for the first time.