Boron-doping induced electron redistribution of carbon-coated nickel nanoparticles towards efficient alkaline hydrogen evolution

Metal nickel (Ni) has been developed as hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst for water-alkali electrolyzers for almost a century. However, the catalytic efficiency and durability of metallic Ni is still far from satisfactory due to its inappropriate electronic structure and non-corrosion-resistant property. Herein, we report a facile strategy to fabricate the carbon-coated boron-doping nickel nanoparticles (Ni-B@C) via a convenient boronization and a subsequent carbonization treatment of the Ni-based metal organic framework (Ni ₂(OH) ₂(C ₈H ₄O ₄ )). Such process also ensured the catalyst with high electrochemically active surface area. Particularly, the B-doping would induce the electron redistribution of Ni, resulting in optimized H ₂ O dissociation and H* association, thereby significantly improving the alkaline HER kinetics. Benefiting from the contribution of these favourable properties, the as-prepared Ni-B@C catalyst exhibits remarkable alkaline HER activity with an overpotential of only 26 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA cm ⁻² and, more impressively, with superior durability in the constant-current test of 50 h at the different current densities of 10, 50 and 100 mA cm ^–2. The combination of these excellent characteristics clearly makes Ni-B@C catalyst stand out from existing competitors towards alkaline HER.