Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is one of the core reactions in the field of electrochemistry and subjected to a lot of studies for many years. But it is still one of the most complicated electrochemical processes and of practical importance. Specifically, the development of efficient and low-cost non-precious catalyst for the OER is still a key challenge for the renewable energy research community. In this study, electrodeposited porous nickel?iron?tin (Ni–Fe–Sn) alloy on Cu foil as an efficient OER electrocatalyst in alkaline medium was introduced. The obtained alloy was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The OER electrocatalytic performance of Ni–Fe–Sn alloy was investigated by linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and chronoamperometry (CP) in 30wt% KOH solution. In addition, the Ni–Fe–Sn alloy was further tested as anodes for alkaline water electrolysis during at least 12 h with good stability. The results showed that the obtained Ni–Fe–Sn alloy was composed of Ni3Sn2 and FeNi3 phases. The EDS result of Ni–Fe–Sn alloy showed the existence of three elements (Fe, Ni and Sn). SEM images displayed that the surface of the Ni–Fe–Sn alloy had porous structure, which provided more active sites for the OER. OER measurements demonstrated that the Ni–Fe–Sn alloy was highly effective for the OER with a low overpotential of 261 mV to reach 10 mA/cm2 and a small Tafel slope of 69.9 mV/dec. The excellent electrocatalytic activity, long-term stability and facile preparation method enabled Ni–Fe–Sn alloy to be a viable candidate for its widespread use in various water-splitting technologies. The better OER activity of Ni–Fe–Sn alloy in comparison to Ni–Fe alloy originated from higher electrochemical active surface area (ECSA) and the improved mass/electron transport capability due to synergetic effect between Ni, Fe, and Sn.
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