Core–Shell NiFe-LDH@NiFe-B_i Nanoarray: In Situ Electrochemical Surface Derivation Preparation toward Efficient Water Oxidation Electrocatalysis in near-Neutral Media

The corrosion issue with acidic and alkaline water electrolyzers can be avoided by developing water oxidation catalysts performing efficiently under benign conditions. In this Letter, we report that a NiFe-borate layer can be generated on a NiFe-layered double hydroxide nanosheet array hydrothermally grown on carbon cloth via an in situ electrochemical surface derivation process in potassium borate (K-B_i) solution. The resulting 3D NiFe-LDH@NiFe-B_i nanoarray (NiFe-LDH@NiFe-B_i/CC) demonstrates high activity for water oxidation, demanding overpotentials of 444 and 363 mV to achieve 10 mA cm^-2 in 0.1 and 0.5 M K-B_i (pH: 9.2), respectively, rivaling the performances of most reported non-noble-metal catalysts in near-neutral media. Notably, this electrode also shows strong electrochemical durability with a high turnover frequency of 0.54 mol O₂ s^-1 at overpotential of 600 mV. All these features promise its use as an efficient earth-abundant catalyst material for water oxidation under eco-friendly conditions.