Boosting Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution of Nickel foam Supported Nickel Hydroxide by Ruthenium Doping

Abstract Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acid electrolytes has advantages for electrolysis of water due to large supply of hydrogen ions. Herein, we report the synthesis of ruthenium doped nickel hydroxide on commercial nickel foam (Ru−Ni(OH) 2 /NF) by using simple hydrothermal method. Due to integrated assembly and porous structure, as prepared Ru−Ni(OH) 2 /NF is explored as an electrocatalyst for HER in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 solution at room temperature. The Ru−Ni(OH) 2 /NF showed excellent electrocatalytic HER activity with Tafel slope of 94 mV/dec. The overpotential of Ru−Ni(OH) 2 /NF required to deliver 10 mAcm −2 current density was calculated to be 27 mV, which is smaller than that of commercial Pt/C/NF catalyst (33 mV). Furthermore, the Ru−Ni(OH) 2 /NF has shown decent stability and notable durability. The enhanced HER activity of Ru−Ni(OH) 2 /NF is attributed to Ru doping Ni(OH) 2 /NF and effective contacts between the Ru−Ni(OH) 2 and NF substrate. Finally, these results may provide guidance to the design of Pt‐free catalysts for effective energy related electrocatalytic applications.