Preparation and performance of nickel/C based acidic oxygen evolution anode with polyphenol film

The development of efficient and competitive acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts is a major challenge for hydrogen production by water electrolysis. In this paper, a novel strategy was proposed for preparing OER electrode material, by which a polyphenol (ppl) film was plated on a carbon black-coated nickel foam substrate. The electrode Ni/C-ppl-30-0.1-0.1 shows excellent catalytic activity and stability. The overpotential at 10 mA cm⁻² is 350 mV, which is lower than some of the reported non-precious metal materials. Structural and electrocatalytic performance analyses show that the performance of the electrode benefits from the surface defects of the ppl film and the abundant oxygen-containing functional group, which provide numerous catalytic centers for OER. This work provides an attempt to enhance the anodic stability in acidic media by conductive polymer film.