Synthesis of Platinum-Nickel Hydroxide Nanocomposites for Electrocatalytic Reduction of Water

Water electrolysis represents a promising solution for storage of renewable but intermittent electrical energy in hydrogen molecules. This technology is however challenged by the lack of efficient electrocatalysts for the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions. Here we report on the synthesis of platinum-nickel hydroxide nanocomposites and their electrocatalytic applications for water reduction. An in situ reduction strategy taking advantage of the Ni(II)/Ni(III) redox has been developed to enable and regulate the epitaxial growth of Pt nanocrystals on single-layer Ni(OH)2 nanosheets. The obtained nanocomposites (denoted as Pt@2D-Ni(OH)2) exhibit an improvement factor of 5 in catalytic activity and a reduction of up to 130 mV in overpotential compared to Pt for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). A combination of electron microscopy/spectroscopy characterization, electrochemical studies and density functional calculations was employed to uncover the structures of the metal-hydroxide interface and understand the mechanisms of catalytic enhancement.