3D porous Ni-Co-P nanosheets on carbon fiber cloth for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction

Besides the urgent demand to improve the electrocatalytic performance of non-noble-metal catalysts, the decrease of catalysts load is also challenging for the radical design of electrocatalysts. In this work, porous Ni-Co-P nanosheet arrays were supported on carbon fiber cloth with an ultrathin film thickness of only ∼62 nm. The cross-linked porous nanosheet structure greatly increases the interface area of electrolytes and catalysts. The superhydrophilic and aerophobic nature is advantageous to interface contact and bubble detachment. These characteristics encourage Ni-Co-P nanosheets to maintain high performance under the condition of low active substance loading. For example, the Ni-Co-P shows superior hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performances in both alkaline and acidic media, especially in alkaline conditions, which delivers a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at a low overpotential of 57 mV along with the Tafel slope of 69 mV dec−1. This work provides a direction for the development of low-cost and efficient non-noble metal electrocatalysts with ultralow load contents.