Regulating the Electronic Structure and Active Sites in Ni Nanoparticles by Coating N-Doped C Layer and Porous Structure for an Efficient Overall Water Splitting

Developing efficient and robust bifunctional electrocatalysts are in high demand for the production of hydrogen by water splitting. Engineering an electrocatalyst with a regulated electronic structure and abundant active sites is an effective way to enhance the electrocatalytic activity. Herein, N-doped C-encapsulated Ni nanoparticles (Ni@N-C) are synthesized through a traditional hydrothermal reaction, followed by pyrolyzing under an Ar/H-2 atmosphere. The electrochemical measurements and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the electron transfer between the Ni core and the N-C shell induces the electron density redistribution on Ni@N-C, which directly promotes the adsorption and desorption of H* on the N-doped carbon (N-C) layer and thus dramatically enhances hydrogen production. Taking advantage of the porous spherical structure and the synergistic effects between Ni and N-doped carbon (N-C) layer, we obtain a Ni@N-C electrocatalyst that exhibits remarkable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity with low overpotentials of 117 and 325 mV, respectively. Impressively, the assembled cell using Ni@N-C as both anode and cathode exhibits excellent activity as well as stable cyclability for over 12 h.

Automated summary

Efficient and robust bifunctional electrocatalysts are crucial for hydrogen production by water splitting. The Ni@N-C electrocatalyst, with regulated electronic structure and abundant active sites, demonstrates remarkable activity in hydrogen evolution due to electron transfer and redistribution, as well as synergistic effects between Ni and N-doped carbon layers.