Fe–Ni-doped metal-organic framework derived CoSe2 as an efficient and stable electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

The development of efficient, stable and low-cost catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is one of the major difficulties in water electrolysis. It is also the key to realizing the large-scale production of hydrogen energy, a renewable and clean energy source. In recent years, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted much attention as novel precursors for preparing water electrolysis catalysts due to their high porosity and large specific surface area. In this paper, we use ZIF-67 as a precursor and modify it by doping transition metal elements Fe and Ni. Afterwards, Fe–Ni–CoSe2@NC is synthesized by a thermal selenization process. The results show that the HER overpotential of the catalyst after modification is reduced by 50%, and the efficiency of water electrolysis is significantly improved. Moreover, the catalyst has good stability under alkaline condition and is more economical than the expensive Pt-based catalysts, which provides more possibilities for industrial applications.