Highly active and low-cost electrocatalysts for water oxidation are required due to the demands on sustainable solar fuels; however, developing highly efficient catalysts to meet industrial requirements remains a challenge. Herein, we report a monolayer of nickel–vanadium-layered double hydroxide that shows a current density of 27 mA cm^-2 (57 mA cm^-2 after ohmic-drop correction) at an overpotential of 350 mV for water oxidation. Such performance is comparable to those of the best-performing nickel–iron-layered double hydroxides for water oxidation in alkaline media. Mechanistic studies indicate that the nickel–vanadium-layered double hydroxides can provide high intrinsic catalytic activity, mainly due to enhanced conductivity, facile electron transfer and abundant active sites. This work may expand the scope of cost-effective electrocatalysts for water splitting.

Nature Communications 7, Article number: 11981 doi:10.1038/ncomms11981
Received 10 December 2015 Accepted 18 May 2016 Published 16 June 2016

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/160616/ncomms11981/full/ncomms11981.html

高度活性和价格低廉的水氧化电催化剂要满足工业生产的需求，仍面临巨大的挑战。单层镍-钒层状双氢氧化物在水氧化过程中过电势350mV时表现出电流密度27mA cm^-2（欧姆降校正后为57 mA cm^-2）。这一性能可与目前报导的碱性环境中性能最好的镍-铁层状双氢氧化物相媲美。机理研究表明：单层镍-钒层状双氢氧化物的内在催化活性主要来源于电导率的提高、快速电子转移和丰富的活性位点。（Nature Communications DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11981）（新材料在线）