Polypyrrole@NiCo hybrid nanotube arrays as high performance electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline solution

Abstract

The polypyrrole(PPy)@NiCo hybrid nanotube arrays have been successfully fabricated as a high performance electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline solution. The strong electronic interactions between PPy and NiCo alloy are confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectra. Because these interations can remarkably reduce the apparent activation energy (E_a) for HER and enhance the turnover frequency of catalysts, the electrocatalytic performance of PPy@NiCo hybrid nanotube arrays are significantly improved. The electrochemical tests show that the PPy@NiCo hybrid catalysts exhibit a low overpotential of ~186 mV at 10.0 mA·cm⁻² and a small tafel slope of 88.6 mV·deg⁻¹ for HER in the alkaline solution. The PPy@NiCo hybrid nanotubes also exhibit high catalytic activity and high stability for HER.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

NiCo alloy / polypyrrole / hybrid nanotube / electrocatalyst / hydrogen evolution reaction

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 91645104), the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2015CB-932304 and 2016YFA0202603), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (Nos. S2013020012833 and 2016A010104004), and the Fundamental Research Fund for the Central Universities (No. 16lgjc67).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-018-1724-9 and is accessible for authorized users.

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