Bimetallic NiMoN Nanowires with a Preferential Reactive Facet: An Ultraefficient Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Overall Water Splitting

Faceted nanomaterials with highly reactive exposed facets have been the target of intense researches owing to their significantly enhanced catalytic performance. NiMoN nanowires with the (100) facet preferentially exposed were prepared by an in situ N/O exchange and the morphology tuned by using a rationally designed NiMoO₄ precursor. The facet-tuned NiMoN nanowires exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under both alkaline and acidic conditions that was comparable to that of noble metal platinum. DFT calculations further revealed that the catalytic activity of NiMoN nanowires towards HER on the (100) reactive facet is significantly greater than that on the (001) or (101) facets, owing to the low adsorption free energy of H* (ΔG_H* ) on the (100) facet. The NiMoN nanowires also demonstrated outstanding activity towards the alkaline oxygen evolution reaction and an excellent durable activity for overall water splitting, with a cell potential as low as 1.498 V at 20 mA cm^-2 . This work provides insights into improving electrocatalytic activity and developing advanced non-noble metal bifunctional electrocatalysts.