Single-Atom Au/NiFe Layered Double Hydroxide Electrocatalyst: Probing the Origin of Activity for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

A fundamental understanding of the origin of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity of transition-metal-based electrocatalysts, especially for single precious metal atoms supported on layered double hydroxides (LDHs), is highly required for the design of efficient electrocatalysts toward further energy conversion technologies. Here, we aim toward single-atom Au supported on NiFe LDH (^sAu/NiFe LDH) to clarify the activity origin of LDHs system and a 6-fold OER activity enhancement by 0.4 wt % ^sAu decoration. Combining with theoretical calculations, the active behavior of NiFe LDH results from the in situ generated NiFe oxyhydroxide from LDH during the OER process. With the presence of ^sAu, ^sAu/NiFe LDH possesses an overpotential of 0.21 V in contrast to the calculated result (0.18 V). We ascribe the excellent OER activity of ^sAu/NiFe LDH to the charge redistribution of active Fe as well as its surrounding atoms causing by the neighboring ^sAu on NiFe oxyhydroxide stabilized by interfacial CO₃^2- and H₂O interfacing with LDH.