article · Catalysts
Nickel-iron layered double hydroxides (NiFe-LDHs) are earth-abundant electrocatalysts widely examined for driving the oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline media. Rather than operating as static materials, they function dynamically as precatalysts. Under anodic operating conditions, they reconstruct into active gamma-NiFeOOH-like nickel-iron oxyhydroxides, where iron sites situated in the nickel oxyhydroxide matrix alongside coupled nickel-iron motifs control catalytic activity. Structural features including layer spacing, charge, interlayer anions, and ion or water transport strongly govern this reconstruction and performance. Synthesis routes such as electrodeposition, coprecipitation, and hydrothermal growth influence catalyst crystallinity, loading, and orientation. To optimise the adsorption of reaction intermediates, enhancement strategies deploy heteroatom doping, defect engineering, interlayer modifications, and conductive supports. Achieving robust performance also depends heavily on standardising benchmarking reliability and accounting for electrolyte history.
Producing clean hydrogen efficiently requires durable, low-cost catalysts to split water in alkaline electrolysers. Nickel-iron materials avoid expensive precious metals, but their operational behaviour is complex and easily influenced by testing conditions. Clarifying how these catalysts physically transform during operation helps researchers design more predictable, higher-performing materials for large-scale green fuel generation.
The primary application is in alkaline electrolysers for industrial hydrogen generation. Technology developers and electrolyser manufacturers could utilise these structural design rules, improvement strategies, and benchmarking guidelines to build more durable non-precious-metal anodes. The technology remains at an applied research stage, as significant challenges in catalyst stability and reliable real-world benchmarking must still be resolved before commercial deployment.
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Nickel–iron layered double hydroxides (NiFe-LDHs) are among the most active earth-abundant electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline media, yet their performance remains sensitive to structure, electrolyte history, and testing practice. Unlike general summaries of NiFe-LDH synthesis and activity, this review emphasizes the dynamic nature of NiFe-LDHs as precatalysts, focusing on interlayer chemistry, electrolyte history, anodic reconstruction, mechanistic interpretation, and benchmarking reliability. It highlights the activation of NiFe-LDHs under anodic conditions into γ-NiFeOOH-like Ni–Fe oxyhydroxides, where Fe sites embedded in the NiOOH matrix and coupled Ni–Fe motifs jointly govern the catalytic activity. The discussion focuses on the role of layer charge, interlayer anions, layer spacing, and ion/water transport in reconstruction and catalytic activity. Catalyst crystallinity, orientation and loading are also related to common synthesis methods such as coprecipitation, hydrothermal growth and electrodeposition. Moreover, the main performance improvement strategies including defect engineering, heteroatom doping, conductive supports, and interlayer modification are discussed in relation to the adsorption of key OER intermediates. Finally, practical guidelines for reliable benchmarking are discussed, as well as the remaining challenges for the development of stable and efficient NiFe-LDH catalysts for alkaline electrolyzers.
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DOI: 10.3390/catal16090790
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