Effective Controlling of Ni₃S₂/MoS₂ Porous Hollow Spheres on Ni Foam by Non-ionic Surfactant Micelles for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

The hollow sphere structure has attracted various attention in the catalytic field due to its high specific surface. The good dispersion and morphology of hollow spheres are important to provide high active sites. It is a big challenge to control the morphology and distribution of the active materials during synthesis. Serious deformation and uneven distribution of the spheres were usually obtained due to inappropriate templates. A facile one-step hydrothermal method using micelles of triblock copolymer surfactant P123 was adopted to in-situ grow Ni₃S₂/MoS₂ porous hollow spheres on Ni foam with uniform distribution. The as-produced Ni₃S₂/MoS₂ porous hollow spheres have been demonstrated to have excellent oxygen evolution reaction catalytic performance as integrated electrodes. Low overpotentials of 314 mV and 337 mV have been achieved at current densities of 50 mA cm⁻² and 100 mA cm⁻² with a Tafel slope of 57 mV dec⁻¹ and an excellent long-term stability, which is better than other Ni-base material.