Electrochemical synthesis of trimetallic nickel-iron-copper nanoparticles via potential-cycling for high current density anion exchange membrane water-splitting applications

Hydrogen is known for its elevated energy density and environmental compatibility and is a promising alternative to fossil fuels. Alkaline water electrolysis utilizing renewable energy sources has emerged as a means to obtain high-purity hydrogen. Nevertheless, electrocatalysts used in the process are fabricated using conventional wet chemical synthesis methods, such as sol–gel, hydrothermal, or surfactant-assisted approaches, which often necessitate intricate pretreatment procedures and are vulnerable to post-treatment contamination. Therefore, this study introduces a streamlined and environmentally conscious one-step potential-cycling approach to generate a highly efficient trimetallic nickel-iron-copper electrocatalyst in situ on nickel foam. The synthesized material exhibited remarkable performance, requiring a mere 476 mV to drive electrochemical water splitting at 100 mA cm⁻² current density in alkaline solution. Furthermore, this material was integrated into an anion exchange membrane water-splitting device and achieved an exceptionally high current density of 1 A cm⁻² at a low cell voltage of 2.13 V, outperforming the noble-metal benchmark (2.51 V). Additionally, ex situ characterizations were employed to detect transformations in the active sites during the catalytic process, revealing the structural transformations and providing inspiration for further design of electrocatalysts.