3D Self‐Supported Catalyst with Multiple Active Components for Efficient Neutral Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

An electrochemical etching-hydrothermal-H₂ plasma reduction strategy is proposed to prepare a 3D heterostructured catalyst with multiple active components supported on Cu₂₊₁O nanorod array to promote the kinetics of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in 1 M phosphate buffer solution. The as-obtained 3D P−Mo−NiFe LDH exhibits splendid HER activity with a low overpotential of 24 mV at 10 mA cm⁻².

Abstract

Up to now, the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are mainly investigated in strong acidic/alkaline electrolytes. However, the HER in extreme conditions shows several drawbacks, including the corrosion of electrolyzer, water pollution, and the use of expensive anion/cation exchange membranes. The HER in neutral media is desirable to address these issues. Nevertheless, the neutral HER still faces a great challenge due to its slow kinetics. Herein, we report a plasma-assisted approach to synthesize an efficient electrocatalyst (denoted as 3D P−Mo−NiFe LDH) with multiple active components (Ni nanoparticles, Ni₃Mo alloy nanoparticles, oxygen vacancies, and molybdate-incorporated NiFe layered double hydroxide nanosheets) supported on Cu₂₊₁O nanorod array for neutral HER. The 3D hierarchical nanostructure can endow the catalyst with enhanced mass transfer and more exposed active sites, while the multiple active components can accelerate the HER kinetics in neutral media. As expected, the 3D P−Mo−NiFe LDH exhibits outstanding HER activity (24 mV@10 mA cm⁻²) and excellent stability (up to 200 h) in 1 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS).

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