GO supported Fe doped Ni(OH)2 hexagonal nanosheets for hydrogen evolution reaction in neutral electrolytes

Abstract

Exploiting non-noble metals catalysts with excellent performance for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) has aroused gigantic interest, but still challenges. Herein, we reported the graphene oxide (GO) supported Fe doped Ni(OH) _2 hexagonal nanosheets (GO-Fe,Ni HHNs) for HER firstly. SEM and XRD were carried out to investigate the morphology and crystal structure of the GO-Fe,Ni HHNs systematically. The elements and bonding of the sample were measured via using XPS. In addition, we found that the recrystallization treatment could significantly improve the morphology and crystallinity of the nanosheets. Most important, the GO-Fe,Ni HHNs possessed exceptional catalytic performance and stability in PBS solution. The overpotential (10 mA cm ^−2 ) and Tafel slope were 190 mV and 110 mV dec ^−1 , respectively, significantly better than that of other non-noble metal catalysts reported before.

Keywords

• graphene oxide
• Fe doped Ni (OH)2 nanosheets
• recrystallization
• hydrogen evolution reaction