@article{Li2023, 
author = {Cong Li and Jiang-Yan Xue and Wei Zhang and Fei-Long Li and Hongwei Gu and Pierre Braunstein and Jian-Ping Lang},
title = {Accelerating water dissociation at carbon supported nanoscale Ni/NiO heterojunction electrocatalysts for high-efficiency alkaline hydrogen evolution},
year = {2023},
journal = {Nano Research},
volume = {16},
number = {4},
pages = {4742-4750},
keywords = {hydrogen evolution reaction, water dissociation, Ni/NiO heterojunction, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) derivatives, reduction pyrolysis},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.1007/s12274-022-5194-5},
doi = {10.1007/s12274-022-5194-5},
abstract = {The synergistic catalysis of heterojunction electrocatalysts for the multi-step process in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a promising approach to enhance the kinetics of alkaline HER. Herein, we proposed a strategy to form nanoscale Ni/NiO heterojunction porous graphitic carbon composites (Ni/NiO-PGC) by reduction-pyrolysis of the preformed Ni-metal-organic framework (MOF) under H2/N2 atmosphere. Benefiting from low electron transfer resistance, increased number of active sites, and unique hierarchical micro-mesoporous structure, the optimized Ni/NiO-PGC10-1-400 exhibited excellent electrocatalytic performance and robust stability for alkaline HER (η10 = 30 mV, 65 h). Density functional theory (DFT) studies revealed that the redistribution of electrons at the Ni/NiO interface enables the NiO phase to easily initiate the dissociation of alkaline H2O, and shifts down the d-band center of Ni and optimizes the H* adsorption–desorption process of Ni, thereby leading to extremely high HER activity. This work contributes to a further understanding of the synergistic promotion of the multi-step HER processes by heterojunction electrocatalysts.}
}