# S- and N-Co-Doped Carbon-Nanoplate-Encased Ni Nanoparticles Derived from Dual-Ligand-Assembled Ni-MOFs as Efficient Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a new electrocatalyst made from nickel nanoparticles in doped carbon nanoplates, which efficiently helps in the oxygen evolution reaction for energy storage.

## Contribution

A novel method to synthesize Ni nanoparticles embedded in S- and N-co-doped carbon nanoplates for efficient OER catalysis.

## Key findings

- The Ni NPs@SN-CNP electrocatalyst achieves an overpotential of 256 mV at 10 mA cm−2 for the OER.
- The water-splitting cell using this catalyst requires only 1.56 V at 10 mA cm−2 and shows high stability.
- The catalyst's performance is attributed to its large surface area, unique morphology, and nanostructure.

## Abstract

To achieve the “double carbon” goal, it is urgent to reform the energy system. The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a vital semi-reaction for many new energy-storage and conversion devices. Metal nanoparticles embedded in heteroatom-doped carbon materials prepared by the pyrolyzing of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have been a key route to obtain high-performance electrochemical catalysts. Herein, a nanocatalyst embedding Ni nanoparticles into S- and N-co-doped carbon nanoplate (Ni NPs@SN-CNP) has been synthesized by pyrolysis of a Ni-MOF precursor. The prepared Ni NPs@SN-CNP exhibits superior oxygen evolution performance with an overpotential of 256 mV to attain 10 mA cm−2 and a low Tafel slope value of 95 mV dec−1. Moreover, a self-assembled overall-water-splitting cell with Ni NPs@SN-CNP/NF||Pt-C/NF achieves a low potential of 1.56 V at 10 mA cm−2 and a high cycling stability for at least 10 h. The improvement in this performance is benefit from its large surface area, unique morphology, and the nanostructure of the electrocatalyst. This study presents a novel and simple approach to designing high-performance OER catalysts.