Morphological engineering coupled with electronic engineering accelerates H2 production at the high current density

Abstract

The insufficient exposure of catalyst active sites and high adsorption energy barrier of intermediates (H*) on the Ni surface are the main reasons for its lack of hydrogen evolution activity under high current. However, developing non noble metal hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts with stable activity under high current density is key to achieving large-scale industrial H2 production. Herein, a tungsten-doped dendritic nickel-copper array on copper mesh (W-NiCuarray/CM) is prepared by combining microscopic morphology control and atomic scale electron control strategies. Benefiting from the unique dendritic morphology and excellent electronic structure, the electrocatalyst exhibits outstanding hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance under high current densities. In particular, it requires a low overpotential of 257 and 349 mV at −500 and −1000 mA cm−2, respectively, which surpasses the state-of-the-art commercial Pt/C. Characterization and density functional theory (DFT) further reveal that Cu and W control the electronic structure, and the active center Ni obtains the appropriate d-band center; thus, the optimal Gibbs free energy (ΔGH*) of hydrogen adsorption can be gained. Overall, this study combines morphology engineering and electronic control engineering to provide an idea for the development of advanced nonprecious metal electrocatalysts applied for industrial hydrogen production.