Preparation of rimose NiZnP electrode for hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline medium by electroless and H2SO4 etching

In this paper, a rimose NiZnP electrode was prepared by electroless and H2SO4 etching. This electrode acts as an efficient and stable catalytic cathode for water splitting, affording 10 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of 50 mV. It is found that using H2SO4 as an etching reagent is favorable for the formation of Ni(OH)2, and can obtain higher eletrocatalytic activity than using NaOH. It is, moreover, verified that the kinetic parameters do not vary with etching time except for the beginning stage through the study of Tafel slopes and normalized exchange current density. At last the analysis of electrochemically surface area proves that the high catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution is owing to the high surface area.