One-Step Electrodeposition of NiMoP/NF as an Efficient and Cost-Effective Cathodic Electrocatalyst for Alkaline Water Electrolysis

The development of electrocatalysts that have long-term stability under large current density is very crucial for hydrogen production via alkaline water electrolysis. In this paper, a novel ternary nonprecious metal catalyst NiMoP on nickel foam (NF) was prepared via an in situ one-step method. The overpotential of NiMoP/NF for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in 1 M KOH reaches only 34 and 135 mV at a current density of 10 and 100 mA cm–2, respectively. And the overpotential for HER only rose by 6 mV after 100 h of chronopotentiometry (CP) for HER in 1 M KOH. Its efficient and stable HER performance depends on the synergistic effect of Ni, Mo, and P elements in the electrode and a large electrochemical surface area which the unique crack structure obtained by adjusting the content of Mo provides. The cheap NiMoP/NF material has great potential for application in commercial alkaline water electrolysis hydrogen production.