Flame-like Ni(OH)2 strongly promotes the dissociation of water and can be used to produce an excellent hybrid electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline media

In this communication, Ni(OH)2 with a flame-like morphology was successfully electrodeposited on nickel foam (NF) using a ZnO buffer layer. The flame-like Ni(OH)2/NF exhibited efficient activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline media, requiring overpotentials of only 56.4 and 115.8 mV to reach current densities of 10 and 100 mA cm−2, respectively, with a low Tafel slope of 52.8 mV dec−1. These results are nearly comparable to those of commercial Pt/C. The significant improvement in HER activity could be attributed to the flame-like morphology of Ni(OH)2, which may strongly promote the dissociation of water and accelerate the formation of Had. This work also provides a new approach to designing efficient hybrid catalysts for the hydrogen evolution in alkaline media.