Preparation of NiTe-Ni(OH)2/NF active cathode material as an electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution.

It is highly important to develop low-cost hydrogen evolution cathode materials. In this paper, Ni(OH) 2 /NF electrode was prepared by a hydrothermal method using nickel foam (NF) as a substrate, and NiTe-Ni(OH) 2 /NF cathode with high efficiency and low cost was prepared by secondary hydrothermal method. The material was characterized by physical characterization and electrochemical performance tests. Ni(OH) 2 /NF electrode materials prepared by a one-step hydrothermal method had a three-dimensional petal-like pore space structure. This special structure provided abundant active points for the two-step hydrothermal preparation of NiTe-Ni(OH) 2 /NF, which helps to improve the efficiency of HER. Compared with NF and Ni(OH) 2 /NF, NiTe-Ni(OH) 2 /NF cathode exhibited better HER catalytic performance. The results shown that NiTe-Ni(OH) 2 /NF is possesed excellent hydrogen evolution performance, and density functional theory can confirm this. At a current density of 10 mV∙cm−2, the NiTe-Ni(OH) 2 /NF electrode has an overpotential of only 129 mV, long-term stability, and an electrochemically active specific surface area (ECSA) of 91.75 cm−2. The Tafel slope was 31.5 mV∙dec−1, and the charge transfer resistance obtained by electrochemical impedance analysis was 9.81 Ω. This article provided valuable insights into the rational regulation of crystal phases on nickel telluride to improve HER properties. • The synergistic effect of porous petal-like Ni(OH) 2 /NF and uniform nanorod-like NiTe effectively maintained the stable structure of NiTe-Ni(OH) 2 /NF. • NiTe-Ni(OH) 2 /NF nanobars could provide excellent conductive networks and abundant H+ transfer active sites. • The NiTe-Ni(OH) 2 /NF composite had a low overpotential, abundant electrocatalytically active sites, and ultralong stability. • Density functional theory confirmed that NiTe-Ni(OH) 2 /NF had a low hydrogen adsorption energy and excellent kinetic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]