Ordered Macroporous Nickel Electrode for High-Current-Density Hydrogen Production

In pursuit of sustainable hydrogen production, the development of efficient and stable electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under industrial conditions remains a critical challenge. Herein, a free-standing, highly active, and stable inverse-opal-structured nickel foam (IOS Ni@NF) electrode was fabricated via a hard-template-assisted pulsed electrodeposition. This novel architecture features a highly ordered three-dimensional macroporous network, providing an abundance of electrochemically active sites, facilitating rapid mass transfer, and ensuring efficient hydrogen bubble detachment. This IOS Ni@NF electrode exhibits remarkable HER activity in 1 M KOH, achieving overpotentials of merely 73 and 260 mV at current densities of 10 and 500 mA cm–2, respectively. Furthermore, the electrode exhibits excellent long-term stability, lasting over 20 h at a current density of 1000 mA cm–2. These findings underscore the potential of IOS Ni@NF as a promising electrode for large-scale alkaline water electrolysis.