Phase transition in V-doped cobalt hydroxide for a superior alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction

Herein, V-doped cobalt hydroxides grown on carbon cloth (V-Co(OH)(2)/CC) were prepared via hydrothermal method. The incorporation of V can trigger phase transition and tune the local electronic structure of Co(OH)(2), thereby improving the intrinsic alkaline HER activity. We find that the V-Co(OH)(2) dominated by beta-Co(OH)(2) exhibits excellent HER activity with only 83 mV overpotential at a current density of 10 mA cm(-2), which outperforms most reported hydroxide-based catalysts and even surpasses the commercial Pt/C at large current density (>160 mA cm(-2)).