One–step electrodeposition of Ni–Ce–Pr–Ho/NF as an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline medium

Finding non-precious metal hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts with high efficiency and low cost is a great challenge. A novel HER electrocatalyst of amorphous Nickel–Cerium–Praseodymium–Holmium coating supported on nickel foam (Ni–Ce–Pr–Ho/NF) was successfully synthesized through one-step galvanostatic electrodeposition. The Ni–Ce–Pr–Ho catalyst exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activity toward HER with a low overpotential of 78 mV at 10 mA cm −2 in 1 M KOH. The Tafel slope of Ni–Ce–Pr–Ho electrocatalyst (121.6 mV·dec −1 ) indicated that the hydrogen reaction mechanism for Ni–Ce–Pr–Ho electrocatalysts followed a typical Volmer–Heyrovsky step. The remarkable HER performance was attributed to Pr and Ho doping, which resulted in the development of an amorphous structure, satisfactory intrinsic activity, and high conductivity. • Ni–Ce–Pr–Ho catalyst is developed via a facile and simple galvanostatic electrodeposition method. • Ni–Ce–Pr–Ho catalyst showed excellent HER activity with low overpotential of 78 mV at 10 mA cm −2 . • Enhanced catalytic performance resulted in the amorphous structure, satisfactory intrinsic activity, and high conductivity.