Defective blue titanium oxide induces high valence of NiFe-(oxy)hydroxides over heterogeneous interfaces towards high OER catalytic activity

Nickel–iron (oxy)hydroxides (NiFeO(x)H(y)) have been validated to speed up sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) but still lack satisfactory substrates to support them. Here, non-stoichiometric blue titanium oxide (B-TiO(x)) was directly derived from Ti metal by alkaline anodization and used as a substrate for electrodeposition of amorphous NiFeO(x)H(y) (NiFe/B-TiO(x)). The performed X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations evidenced that there is a charge transfer between B-TiO(x) and NiFeO(x)H(y), which gives rise to an elevated valence at the Ni sites (average oxidation state ∼ 2.37). The synthesized NiFe/B-TiO(x) delivers a current density of 10 mA cm(−2) and 100 mA cm(−2) at an overpotential of 227 mV and 268 mV, respectively, which are better than that of pure Ti and stainless steel. It also shows outstanding activity and stability under industrial conditions of 6 M KOH. The post-OER characterization studies revealed that the surface morphology and valence states have no significant change after 24 h of operation at 500 mA cm(−2), and also can effectively inhibit the leaching of Fe. We illustrate that surface modification of Ti which has high corrosion resistance and mechanical strength, to generate strong interactions with NiFeO(x)H(y) is a simple and effective strategy to improve the OER activity and stability of non-precious metal electrodes.