Self-replenishing Ni-rich stainless-steel electrode toward oxygen evolution reaction at ampere-level

Xiang Lyu, David A. Cullen, Max Pupucevski, Runming Tao, Harry M. Meyer, Jun Yang, Jianlin Li, Todd J. Toops, Tamara J. Keever, Hnin Khaing, Emily Tong, Judith Lattimer, Tomas Grejtak, J. David Arregui-Mena, Alexey Serov

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In the past few decades, tremendous attention has been devoted to enhancing the activity of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts for hydrogen production, while the cost and long-term stability of catalysts, which can play an even more important role in industrialization, have been much less emphasized. Herein, we engineered an OER electrode from abundant stainless steel (SS) via facile approaches, and the obtained electrode consists of a Ni-rich oxide surface layer with a Fe-rich metal substrate. An outstanding activity was observed with an overpotential of 316 mV at 100 mA cm−2 in 1 M KOH electrolyte. Additionally, an electrode self-replenishing concept is proposed in which a Ni-rich catalyst layer can be regenerated from a metallic substrate due to the difference in diffusion and dissolution rates of metal oxides/hydroxides, and this regeneration is validated by various characterizations. A recorded degradation rate of 0.012 was observed at 1000 mA cm−2 for 1000 h. The facile engineering of OER electrodes from SS combined with the self-replenishing catalyst can potentially address the cost, activity, and long-term stability barriers.

Original languageEnglish
Article number150
JournalCommunications Chemistry
Volume8
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2025

Funding

This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office through the Hydrogen from Next-generation Electrolyzers of Water (H2NEW) consortium and DE-LC 0022\u20141501 project with support from technology manager Dave Peterson. Funding was also provided by the U.S. DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, under the ElectroCat Consortium, DOE technology managers McKenzie Hubert and William Gibbons, and DOE program managers David Peterson and Dimitrios Papageorgopolous. In addition, X.L. acknowledges that the research was sponsored by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the US Department of Energy. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ).

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Self-replenishing Ni-rich stainless-steel electrode toward oxygen evolution reaction at ampere-level'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this