[ 1 ]‎ Nanjing Normal Univ, Jiangsu Collaborat Innovat Ctr Biomed Funct Mat, Sch Chem & Mat Sci, Jiangsu Key Lab New Power Batteries, Nanjing 210023, Peoples R China
[ 2 ]‎ Nanjing Normal Univ, Sch Life Sci, Nanjing 210023, Peoples R China

NEW JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY 2020,44, 21021-21025

It is a difficult and long-term task to develop highly active and stable electrocatalysts to realize efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in electrochemical water splitting. Herein, we report a facile oil-bath method to fabricate hierarchical Rh2Ir alloy nanodendrites (Rh2Ir NDs) with excellent HER performance in a broad pH range. Due to the unique branched nanostructure and rational Rh2Ir metal proportion, the developed Rh2Ir NDs exhibit superior activity and enhanced stability towards HER in a broad range of pH conditions. To deliver a current density of 10 mA cm(-2) in 1 M HClO4 and 1 M KOH, Rh2Ir NDs require overpotentials of only 12 and 9 mV, respectively. This work not only offers a high-performance electrocatalyst for electrochemical water splitting but also provides a new perspective towards the rational synthesis of hierarchical noble-metal nanodendrites.