Studies On The Effect Of 3D Stainless Steel Mesh On The Electrocatalytic Ativity Of Several Transition Metal Compounds

Hydrogen production by electrochemical water splitting is an effective way to solve energy shortage and environment pollution.Although the noble metal-based electrocatalysts have excellent catalytic activity,such as Pt and Ir O₂,Ru O₂,their high price and scarcity limit their large-scale application.Therefore,to develop electrocatalysts with low-cost and high-efficiency is extremely important.In recent years,transition metals have been widely studied due to their abundant reserves and low prices.Some transition metal materials even surpass the c atalytic performance of precious metal catalysts.However,they are coated on glassy carbon,the preparation process is complicated,and they will easily fall off when working at high current density,which will negatively affect the catalytic performance.Based on the above analysis,304-type stainless steel mesh（SSM）is used as the conductive substrates in this article due to its cheap and stable features,and focus on the effect of the catalytic activity of stainless steel mesh on several transition metal compounds.The specific research content is as follows:（1）By adjusting the hydrothermal reaction time,CoO-CoP with different nanostructures was successfully grown on SSM by hydrothermal and oxidative phosphating treatments.The results show that the SSM/CoO-CoP sample with a hydrothermal time of 12 h has a composite structure of porous nanowires and nanosheets（SSM/CoO-CoP NWPs）,and only requires a low overpotential of 31 m V at a current density of 10 m A cm^-2,which is close to coating on commercial platinum carbon electrocatalyst on SSM.Porous nanostructures provide a large amount of surface area and abundant active sites.SSM has strong electronic interaction with CoO and CoP to synergistically enhance its overall catalytic activity.The integratio n of porous SSM/CoO-CoP NWPs on SSM provides application possibilities for self-supporting electrocatalysts that realize low-cost and high-efficiency HER（2）Ni_0.58Al_0.42 alloy was successfully grown on SSM,NF,CC by simple electrodeposition and post-annealing methods,and was directly used as a high-efficiency OER electrocatalyst.Taking Ni_0.58Al_0.42 alloy(SSM/Ni_0.58Al_0.42)grown on SSM as an example,SSM did not only serve as a binder and additive-free substrate for the growth of Ni_0.58Al_0.42 alloy but also as a synergistic performance contributor through the facilitation of electronic interactions between SSM and Ni_0.58Al_0.42 alloy.The SSM/Ni_0.58Al_0.42 electrocatalyst exhibits an overpotential of251 m V at 10 m A cm^-2,which is better than its SSM/Ni counterpart and most nickel-based alloy electrocatalysts recently reported.More importantly,Ni _0.58Al_0.42alloy growns on NF and CC also shows excellent OER performance.The integration of Ni Al-based alloys as electrocatalysts without binders and additives on various conductive substrates creates opportunities for the design of self-supporting metal alloys with efficient water separation.（3）The overall water splitting performance of porous SSM/CoO-CoP NWPs and SSM/Ni_0.58Al_0.42 alloy was further studied.The SSM/CoO-CoP//SSM/Ni_0.58Al_0.42integrated water splitting device was assembled.It has a water splitting potential of1.55 V at a current density of 10 m A cm^-2,which is better than SSM/Pt-C//SSM/Ir O₂（1.57 V）.The assembly and design of the SSM/CoO-CoP//SSM/Ni_0.58Al_0.42 water splitting device provides the possibility to develop low-cost and efficient water splitting.