The Co–Ni–B@Ni foam catalyst prepared by a simple electroless plating method exhibits high and stable electrocatalytic activity towards the water splitting.

Platinum (Pt) is well-known as the best-performing catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), but its practical application is severely hindered by its prohibitively high cost and problematic performance in alkaline electrolyte. Herein, we report that the issues of intrinsic activity and cost concern of Pt can be simultaneously addressed by employing a combination of concerted catalysis and nanoengineering strategies. Motivated by our density functional theory (DFT) calculations that the cooperative catalysis between Pt and NiO would lead to a better HER activity in comparison to Pt solely in alkaline solution, we successfully synthesized a Pt/NiO@Ni/NF nanocomposite catalyst by depositing highly dispersed Pt nanoclusters/nanoparticles on a honeycomb-like NiO@Ni film supported on Ni foam (NF). The resulting Pt/NiO@Ni/NF catalyst outperforms the commercial Pt/C catalyst with a high and stable HER activity in alkaline solution and, more impressively, with an economical Pt content as low as ∼0.1 mg cm–2.

The design and synthesis of high-performance hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts requires an overall consideration of intrinsic activity and number of active sites as well as electric conductivity. We herein report a facile synthesis of a cost-effective catalyst that can simultaneously address these key issues. A cobalt molybdenum oxide hydrate (CoMoO 4 •nH 2 O) with a 3D hierarchical nanostructure can be readily grown on nickel foam using a hydrothermal method. Calcination treatment of this precursor material under a reductive atmosphere resulted in the formation of Co nanoparticles on the Co 2 Mo 3 O 8 surface, which worked in concert to act as active sites for the HER. In addition, the resulting Co 2 Mo 3 O 8 from the dehydration and reduction reactions of CoMoO 4 •nH 2 O showed remarkable increases in both active surface area and electrical conductivity. As a consequence of these favorable attributes, the catalyst exhibited electrocatalytic performance comparable to that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst for the HER in alkaline solution, which is promising for practical water-splitting applications.

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Electrochemically splitting water to produce clean hydrogen fuel requires high‐performance electrocatalysts. Here, we report transition metal‐boron alloy Co‐W−B is an active electrocatalyst for water electrolysis. The Co‐W−B catalyst can be readily deposited on nickle foam (NF) using a simple electroless plating method. A combination of phase/chemical state/microstructural analyses of the Co‐W−B electrocatalyst was conducted using XRD, TEM, Raman spectroscopy and XPS techniques. The properly annealed Co‐W−B/NF catalyst with an optimal composition exhibits a low overpotential along with a high stability for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline solution, which is among the best reported levels for non‐noble HER catalysts. In addition, the Co‐W−B/NF catalyst also shows moderate activity towards the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). These study results highlight the potential of transition metal‐boron alloys as high‐performance and low‐cost electrocatalyst for water splitting.

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