In situ growth of NiSe₂ nanocrystalline array on graphene for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

Nickel selenide electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with a high efficiency and a low-cost have a significant potential in the development of water splitting. However, the inferiority of the high overpotential and poor stability restricts their practical applications. Herein, a composite nanostructure consists of ultrasmall NiSe₂ nanocrystals embedded on graphene by microwave reaction is reported. The prepared NiSe₂/reduced graphite oxide (rGO) electrocatalyst exhibited a high HER activity with an overpotential of 158 mV at a current density of 10 mA/cm² and a corresponding moderate Tafel slope of 56 mV/dec in alkaline electrolyte. In addition, a high retention of electrochemical properties (approximately 100%) was demonstrated with an unchangeable microstructure after 100 h of continuous operation.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

nickel selenide / carbon materials / nanoparticles / hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) / microwave reaction

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 5007041901), the Natural Science Research Project of Anhui Provincial Education Department (KJ2020A0736 and KJ2019A0671), the Academic Funding Project for Top Talents in Disciplines of Anhui universities (gxbjZD2021082), and Doctoral Research Foundation (No. 2019jb23) and Scientific Research Key Project (No. 2020yzd10) of Suzhou University.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-022-0827-7 and is accessible for authorized users.

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