Ni–B nanostructured electrocatalysts with high efficiency for oxygen evolution prepared through selective dealloying from Ni–W–B amorphous alloy

Electrocatalysts significantly boost the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) efficiency in alkaline environments. Our research introduces electrochemically co-deposited and dealloyed Ni–B nanoflakes as efficient OER electrocatalysts. Electrochemical analysis showed that the catalyst reaches a current density of 10 mA/cm2 at a remarkably low overpotential of only 334 mV. After 24 h of chronopotentiometry and 1000 cycles of cyclic voltammetry testing, the catalyst exhibits highly persistent OER performance. According to density functional theory computations, boron atom doping modifies the charge density distribution by extracting electrons from neighboring nickel sites. Such an adjustment of the charge density positively influences the OER process. Further, Bader charge analysis suggests that B doping enhances the hydrophilicity of the surface, which facilitates water molecule adsorption and thus forms the Ni–B catalytic active sites. This work not only effectively reduces the overpotential during electrolysis but also greatly advocates for the practical implementation of catalysts utilizing Ni–B composition.