Synergistic Effect in Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Evolution by RGO‐Supported Nickel Molybdenum Catalysts

Abstract

Synergistic effect in electrocatalysis is an important phenomenon for controlling the adsorptive‐absorptive interaction on the catalytic surfaces and hence to determining the rate determining step of the electrochemical reaction. In this article, we develop a unique one step solution phase method for the synthesis of the Ni nanoparticles, MoOx nanorods and Ni_MoOx nanospikes respectively on the surface of the reduced graphene oxide (RGO). Our study shows that Ni_MoOx nanospikes supported on RGO exhibit better photoelectrochemical activities with photocurrent of 160 μA cm−2 as well as visible light driven HER with Tafel slope of only 95 mV dec−1 where unsupported Ni_MoOx has very high tafel slope of 295 mV dec−1. The cumulative effect of both MoOx and RGO improves the electrochemical performance of the catalyst Ni_MoOx/RGO drastically. Our study shows that RGO controls not only the growth of nanospikes morphology, but also enhances the photoelectrochemical performance by promoting efficient charge transfer between the active Ni_MoOx nanospikes and the conducting graphene network.

MoSe2-Ni3Se4 Hybrid Nanoelectrocatalysts and Their Enhanced Electrocatalytic Activity for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

“…After 1000 cycles, the catalytic performance only shows a slight decline. The synergetic effects play an important in controlling the adsorptiveabsorptive interactions on the catalytic surfaces and thus determine the rate determining step of the catalytic reaction [35]. Therefore, the utilization of synergetic effects constitutes a major advantage of hybrid nanostructure for the enhancement of HER activity.…”