Ti3C2Tx MXene induces strong electronic metal–support interaction with Ni nanoparticles for hydrogen evolution reaction with Pt-like activity

Abstract

The commercialization of hydroxide-exchange membrane-based water electrolyzers is mainly hindered by the lack of low-cost, high-efficiency, and stable electrocatalysts for the sluggish alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here, Ni nanoparticles loaded on Ti₃C₂T_x (Ni/Ti₃C₂T_x) were synthesized by a facile oleylamine-assisted solvent method following a hydrogen-reduction treatment. In 1.0 M KOH solution, this composite catalyst needs an extremely low overpotential of 36 mV to drive 10 mA cm⁻² for HER with a low Tafel slope of 52.2 mV dec⁻¹, which is close to those of benchmark Pt/C catalysts. Further, probing experiments and DFT calculations reveal that the strong electronic metal–support interaction (EMSI) between Ni nanoparticles and the Ti₃C₂T_x substrate enables low water-dissociation energy and optimized hydrogen adsorption energy on the electrocatalyst, which endows Ni/Ti₃C₂T_x with amazing HER catalytic performances. This work offers a fresh design idea for the development of non-precious electrocatalysts with Pt-like catalytic activity for HER.