Do Ha Huu, Nguyen Khac Binh, Nguyen Phuong N, Pham Hoai Phuong
NTT Hi-Tech Institute, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam.
Institute of Applied Materials Science, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), 29TL Street, Ward Thanh Loc, District 12, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam.
Beilstein J Nanotechnol. 2025 Jun 6;16:837-846. doi: 10.3762/bjnano.16.63. eCollection 2025.
The advancement of affordable, ultrastable, and efficient electrode materials for basic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) plays a crucial role in industrial hydrogen manufacture, resolving problems caused by carbon dioxide emissions. Ni-based electrocatalysts have been well accepted as potential candidates to replace Pt-based electrocatalysts for HER because of their suitable Gibbs free hydrogen adsorption energy, good intrinsic catalytic properties, and high stability. However, solution-based synthetic approaches can be highly harmful to human beings. In this study, Ni/NiO nanolayers were prepared on stainless steel (SS) via a facile one-step radio frequency magnetron sputtering with various O flow rates. The O flow rate not only changed the crystal phase but also affected the morphology and atomic ratio of materials, leading to optimized HER efficiency. The evaluation of catalytic activities revealed that the optimal sample of Ni/NiO/SS-10 displayed a higher HER performance than bare SS. To produce H at a current density of 10 mA·cm, this electrode required a low overpotential of 184 mV and demonstrated remarkable durability over 12 h of operation. The high efficiency is attributed to the collaborative work of the NiO and Ni metal components and the good electrical conductivity of SS, which is advantageous for dissociative adsorption of water molecules, recombination of hydrogen atoms, and improvement of electronic/ionic motion. This work may introduce a facile and eco-friendly strategy for fabricating noble metal-free, efficient nanomaterials for electrocatalytic HER.
开发用于碱性析氢反应（HER）的经济实惠、超稳定且高效的电极材料，对于工业制氢以及解决二氧化碳排放引发的问题而言至关重要。镍基电催化剂因其合适的吉布斯自由能氢吸附能、良好的本征催化性能以及高稳定性，已被广泛认可为替代铂基电催化剂用于析氢反应的潜在候选材料。然而，基于溶液的合成方法可能对人体危害极大。在本研究中，通过简便的一步射频磁控溅射法，在不同氧气流量条件下，在不锈钢（SS）上制备了镍/氧化镍纳米层。氧气流量不仅改变了晶体相，还影响了材料的形态和原子比，从而优化了析氢效率。催化活性评估表明，最佳样品Ni/NiO/SS - 10展现出比裸不锈钢更高的析氢性能。为了在10 mA·cm²的电流密度下产生氢气，该电极所需的低过电位为184 mV，并且在运行12小时以上表现出卓越的耐久性。这种高效率归因于氧化镍和镍金属组分的协同作用以及不锈钢良好的导电性，这有利于水分子的解离吸附、氢原子的重组以及电子/离子运动的改善。这项工作可能会引入一种简便且环保的策略，用于制备用于电催化析氢反应的无贵金属、高效纳米材料。
