Design of advanced self-supported electrode by surface modification of copper foam with transition metals for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction

Electrocatalytic water splitting is one of the most favorable methods for industrial-scale hydrogen production, but high cost and scarcity of commercially available noble metals restrict its application for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). It is challenging to develop efficient non-noble metal-based electrocatalysts for HER. Herein, a Ni-Cr was doped on Copper foam (CF) substrate by adopting a simple annealing process. The high electrocatalytic efficiency for HER was achieved with Ni-Cr@CF electrode in strong basic medium with a lower overpotential of 144 mV to gain a current density of 10 mA cm(-2) with a small Tafel slope of 88 mV dec(-1). After surface modification, the CF substrate exhibits that the entire surface was uniformly covered with Ni-Cr species ensuring the fast reaction kinetics due to the efficient electron transfer process between the substrate and active catalyst. Moreover, the Ni-Cr@CF electrode exhibits excellent stability up to 2000 cycles under the strong basic medium. (C) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.