Hierarchical Nanoporous V₂O₃ Nanosheets Anchored with Alloy Nanoparticles for Efficient Electrocatalysis

Exploring low-cost bifunctional electrocatalysts for efficient water splitting still faces arduous challenges. Herein, a general and straightforward method is developed to prepare 3D hierarchical nanoporous V₂O₃ nanosheets anchored with different alloy nanoparticles by adopting metal-ion-doped zinc-vanadium (oxy)hydroxides as precursors. To demonstrate this concept, we produced nanoporous V₂O₃ nanosheets dotted with NiFe alloy nanoparticles through high-temperature reduction and free corrosion. Due to the increased number of active sites, accelerated mass transfer originating from the designed nanoporous architecture, and the metallic property of the V₂O₃ matrix, the NiFe@V₂O₃ hybrid exhibits excellent electrocatalytic performances for both oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions. When adopting the NiFe@V₂O₃ as a bifunctional electrode for overall water splitting, it only requires a cell voltage of 1.56 V to reach 10 mA cm^-2. This work provides a general and practical way to prepare high-efficient and low-cost electrocatalysts.