Lattice strain engineering enabling nickel sulfide for seawater splitting at high current density

You-li Sun; You-yi Sun; Yuxuan Zhang; Keqiang He; Takeshi Yanagida; Johnny C. Ho; SenPo Yip

doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2026.188042

Lattice strain engineering enabling nickel sulfide for seawater splitting at high current density

You-li Sun (Co-first Author)
, You-yi Sun (Co-first Author)
, Yuxuan Zhang
, Keqiang He
, Takeshi Yanagida^*
, Johnny C. Ho^*
, SenPo Yip^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

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Abstract

The instability of transition metal sulfides (TMSs) electrocatalysts poses challenges in seawater splitting, particularly in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Lattice strain is an effective strategy to enhance the performance of TMSs. In this work, a lattice-strained Ni₃S₂ (NiFeCoS-LS) was synthesized via a facile room-temperature strategy, where the effective incorporation of Fe and Co induces substantial lattice strain that significantly improves the resistance to Cl⁻-induced corrosion during alkaline seawater oxidation. As a result, the NiFeCoS-LS catalyst exhibits exceptional long-term stability, maintaining stable performance for over 300 h at a current density of 0.5 A cm⁻² in alkaline seawater electrolysis. In contrast, the hydrothermally synthesized NiFeCoS (NiFeCoS-HT), which lacks lattice strain, exhibits significantly reduced stability. The enhanced performance arises from the improved thermodynamic stability of Ni₃S₂ induced by lattice strain, which reinforces its structural robustness under operating conditions. Supported by theoretical calculations, the reconstruction and corrosion resistance behavior of NiFeCoS-LS were further elucidated. This work provides mechanistic insights into designing corrosion-resistant TMS-based electrocatalysts for effective seawater electrolysis. © 2026

Original language	English
Article number	188042
Number of pages	11
Journal	Journal of Alloys and Compounds
Volume	1065
Online published	15 Apr 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2026.188042
Publication status	Published - 5 May 2026

Funding

The “Network Joint Research Center for Materials and Devices” supported this work by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The first author is supported by the China Scholarship Council. The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to Dr. Quan for the support in in situ Raman measurements and insightful analysis.

Research Keywords

Electrocatalyst
Seawater splitting, High current density
Strained lattice
Transition metal sulfides

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This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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title = "Lattice strain engineering enabling nickel sulfide for seawater splitting at high current density",

abstract = "The instability of transition metal sulfides (TMSs) electrocatalysts poses challenges in seawater splitting, particularly in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Lattice strain is an effective strategy to enhance the performance of TMSs. In this work, a lattice-strained Ni₃S₂ (NiFeCoS-LS) was synthesized via a facile room-temperature strategy, where the effective incorporation of Fe and Co induces substantial lattice strain that significantly improves the resistance to Cl⁻-induced corrosion during alkaline seawater oxidation. As a result, the NiFeCoS-LS catalyst exhibits exceptional long-term stability, maintaining stable performance for over 300 h at a current density of 0.5 A cm−2 in alkaline seawater electrolysis. In contrast, the hydrothermally synthesized NiFeCoS (NiFeCoS-HT), which lacks lattice strain, exhibits significantly reduced stability. The enhanced performance arises from the improved thermodynamic stability of Ni₃S₂ induced by lattice strain, which reinforces its structural robustness under operating conditions. Supported by theoretical calculations, the reconstruction and corrosion resistance behavior of NiFeCoS-LS were further elucidated. This work provides mechanistic insights into designing corrosion-resistant TMS-based electrocatalysts for effective seawater electrolysis. {\textcopyright} 2026",

keywords = "Electrocatalyst, Seawater splitting, High current density, Strained lattice, Transition metal sulfides",

author = "You-li Sun and You-yi Sun and Yuxuan Zhang and Keqiang He and Takeshi Yanagida and Ho, \{Johnny C.\} and SenPo Yip",

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doi = "10.1016/j.jallcom.2026.188042",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Lattice strain engineering enabling nickel sulfide for seawater splitting at high current density

AU - Sun, You-li

AU - Sun, You-yi

AU - Zhang, Yuxuan

AU - He, Keqiang

AU - Yanagida, Takeshi

AU - Ho, Johnny C.

AU - Yip, SenPo

PY - 2026/5/5

Y1 - 2026/5/5

N2 - The instability of transition metal sulfides (TMSs) electrocatalysts poses challenges in seawater splitting, particularly in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Lattice strain is an effective strategy to enhance the performance of TMSs. In this work, a lattice-strained Ni₃S₂ (NiFeCoS-LS) was synthesized via a facile room-temperature strategy, where the effective incorporation of Fe and Co induces substantial lattice strain that significantly improves the resistance to Cl⁻-induced corrosion during alkaline seawater oxidation. As a result, the NiFeCoS-LS catalyst exhibits exceptional long-term stability, maintaining stable performance for over 300 h at a current density of 0.5 A cm−2 in alkaline seawater electrolysis. In contrast, the hydrothermally synthesized NiFeCoS (NiFeCoS-HT), which lacks lattice strain, exhibits significantly reduced stability. The enhanced performance arises from the improved thermodynamic stability of Ni₃S₂ induced by lattice strain, which reinforces its structural robustness under operating conditions. Supported by theoretical calculations, the reconstruction and corrosion resistance behavior of NiFeCoS-LS were further elucidated. This work provides mechanistic insights into designing corrosion-resistant TMS-based electrocatalysts for effective seawater electrolysis. © 2026

AB - The instability of transition metal sulfides (TMSs) electrocatalysts poses challenges in seawater splitting, particularly in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Lattice strain is an effective strategy to enhance the performance of TMSs. In this work, a lattice-strained Ni₃S₂ (NiFeCoS-LS) was synthesized via a facile room-temperature strategy, where the effective incorporation of Fe and Co induces substantial lattice strain that significantly improves the resistance to Cl⁻-induced corrosion during alkaline seawater oxidation. As a result, the NiFeCoS-LS catalyst exhibits exceptional long-term stability, maintaining stable performance for over 300 h at a current density of 0.5 A cm−2 in alkaline seawater electrolysis. In contrast, the hydrothermally synthesized NiFeCoS (NiFeCoS-HT), which lacks lattice strain, exhibits significantly reduced stability. The enhanced performance arises from the improved thermodynamic stability of Ni₃S₂ induced by lattice strain, which reinforces its structural robustness under operating conditions. Supported by theoretical calculations, the reconstruction and corrosion resistance behavior of NiFeCoS-LS were further elucidated. This work provides mechanistic insights into designing corrosion-resistant TMS-based electrocatalysts for effective seawater electrolysis. © 2026

KW - Electrocatalyst

KW - Seawater splitting, High current density

KW - Strained lattice

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DO - 10.1016/j.jallcom.2026.188042

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JO - Journal of Alloys and Compounds

JF - Journal of Alloys and Compounds

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ER -

Lattice strain engineering enabling nickel sulfide for seawater splitting at high current density

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