Herring bone graphitic nanofibers grown on NiFe-silica nanocomposites by CVD method for HER activity in alkaline media

Replacement of platinum-based electrocatalytic materials by earth abundant counterparts for hydrogen evolu-tion reaction (HER) in alkaline media is highly desirable. In this work we report synthesis of unique morphology graphitic nanofibers resembling to herring bone graphitic nanofibers (H-GNFs) by typical CVD method at growth temperature of 650 degrees C employing NiFe-silica nanocomposites as a nanocatalyst followed by its application in HER activity. The electrochemical performance of NiFe grown H-GNFs shows that it is far better electrocatalyst than bare nickel foam substrate in terms of overpotential, Tafel slope and charge transfer resistance. The grown H-GNF electrocatalytic material shows overpotential of 95 mV at current density of 10 mA/cm(2) which is just 46 mV higher than commercial Pt/C (20 wt% Pt) and lower than many reported HER electrocatalyst in alkaline conditions.

Automated summary

In this work, unique morphology graphitic nanofibers resembling herring bone structure were successfully synthesized and used as an electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction. The electrochemical performance of these nanofibers showed significant improvement over bare nickel foam substrate, demonstrating their potential as a promising alternative to platinum-based materials for HER in alkaline conditions.