Ordered porous Ni in situ decorated by thin-layer amorphous nickel–phosphorus via mild electrochemical-phosphorization for enhancing the hydrogen evolution performance

Abstract

Electrochemical-phosphorization as a cost-effective and ecofriendly approach is proposed to fabricate an amorphous Ni–P shell partially covering the surface of ordered porous Ni (p-Ni) for the first time. The obtained Ni–P/p-Ni shows superior catalytic activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), compared with the Ni₂P/p-Ni prepared by a traditional solid-phosphorization process at high temperature. Such enhanced catalytic activity for the Ni–P/p-Ni is contributed to by the high intrinsic activity from a synergistic effect of amorphous Ni–P and the neighbouring nickel containing hydroxides/oxides.