Nickel phosphide decorated with trace amount of platinum as an efficient electrocatalyst for the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction

Electrocatalytic water-splitting is considered as a highly promising technology for the sustainable production of hydrogen. Currently, the commercial distribution of such devices is limited by the high price of noble metal (e.g. Pt) electrocatalysts, which still show the best activity toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here it is shown that nickel phosphide (Ni-P) decorated with trace amounts of Pt fulfils both performance and cost requirements for HER electrocatalysis. The catalyst was prepared via a facile and safe two-step wet chemical process. Its excellent performance relies on the synergistic effect between Ni-P and Pt, which leads to a stronger reductive power of Pt and better hydrogen adsorption and reaction kinetics. These findings demonstrate the possibilities to advance the field of water electrolysis and other fields of catalysis by utilizing low-cost catalysts with noble metal-like activity.