Grafting nickel electrode with self-supporting semispherical NiRe particles for stably large-current alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction

Surface engineering of both morphology and composition is appealing strategy for further boosting the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performances of commercial bulk nickel electrode in alkaline media. However, modified surface structure with long-term stability is still in desperate need, especially at industrial-scale current density. Herein, by grafting the commercial nickel electrode with well-aligned nickel-rhenium (Ni-Re) alloy particles, the electrode surface turns to be highly hydrophilic, thus propelling the detachment of hydrogen (H2) bubbles from the electrode surface. In addition, the synergy within the dual Ni-Re atom optimizes the electronic structure of electrode surface, lowering the energy barriers for water dissociation. Resultantly, the NiRe-modified nickel bulk electrode shows fascinating HER performance in both activity and long-term stability, namely overpotential of 191 mV@100 mA cm-2, stable operation for 2000 h at 200 mA cm-2 in H-type cell, and steady running for >1000 h at 1000 mA cm-2 using the configuration of Ni||Ni-60 %Re in the membrane electrode assembly, outperforming that of the benchmark Pt/C catalysts. The results can provide new insights for the tradeoff between activity and cost towards high-performance alkaline water electrolysis.