Recent trends and insights in nickel chalcogenide nanostructures for water-splitting reactions

Developing earth-abundant-electrocatalysts for water-splitting reactions is of great importance to curb contemporary energy demands and to address the important issues such as global warming, pollution and etc. State-of-the-art electrocatalysts (Pt, RuO2 and IrO2) remain the first choice for water electrolysis, however, their high-cost, scarcity and poor stability motivate researchers for the search of abundant, inexpensive and stable enough electrocatalysts for long-term operations. Recently nickel chalcogenides have emerged as a promising substitute for state-of-the-art electrocatalysts, owing to their excellent physiochemical aspects such as high electronic conductivity, chemical stability, specific surface area and porosity. This review paper describes the different parameters to evaluate the electrocatalytic activity, followed by different synthesis methods and strategies employed for the synthesis of nickel chalcogenides. Furthermore, this review provides an overview of some of the important investigations and developments on nickel chalcogenides for water-splitting reactions. At last, the challenges and opportunities for the future exploration of these nickel chalcogenides are put forward and discussed. © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.