Electrodeposited Ni-P Alloy Nanoparticle Films for Efficiently Catalyzing Hydrogen- and Oxygen-Evolution Reactions

Development of earth-abundant bifunctional electrocatalysts for both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is highly desirable but still remains a great challenge. In this Communication, we demonstrate that a Ni-P alloy nanoparticle film electrodeposited on Ni foam (Ni-P/NF) acts as an efficient bifunctional water-splitting electrocatalyst with strong durability in alkaline media. This electrode needs overpotentials of 80 and 309 mV to drive 10 mAcm(-2) for HER and OER, respectively, in 1.0m KOH, and its two-electrode water electrolyzer requires voltage of 1.67V to reach 10 mAcm(-2).