Synthesis of Ni2P/Ni5P4 on porous N decorated rGO foam for efficiently electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction

As a new generation of non-precious metal catalysts, nickel phosphide is regarded as an ideal substitute for precious metal platinum in electrochemical hydrogen evolution. Here, a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalyst is developed by in situ growth of Ni2P/Ni5P4 heterostructures on porous N decorated rGO foam (named Ni2P/Ni5P4/N-rGO). The porous rGO foam structure provides a larger surface area and abundant active sites. The Ni2P/Ni5P4 nanoparticles with heterostructures are uniformly distributed on the rGO sheet, which enhance the charge transfer ability. The decorating of N element also correspondingly improves the HER performance. The as-prepared Ni2P/Ni5P4/N-rGO exhibits excellent HER performance in alkaline medium. When the current density is 10 mA cm−2, the overpotential is only 22 mV. No obvious loss of HER activity after 2000 cyclic voltammetry indicates that the composite has excellent stability. This work presents a valuable route for fabricating inexpensive and high-performance catalysts for electrocatalysis.