Rational design and controllable synthesis of multiple metal components according to chemical composition and morphology are essential for obtaining desirable electrochemical performance for efficient hydrogen production because of the morphology and synergistic effects of different components. Herein, we report an approach to facilely fabricate bimetal compounds with a well-defined hollow nanoprism structure using a self-templated strategy to synthesize novel hierarchical NiCo-layered double hydroxide (NiCo-LDH) nanosheets as precursors followed by in situ phosphorization. Among the as-synthesized products of different mole ratios of Ni/Co, the NiCo2-B-P nanoprisms that integrate the advantages of a hollow structure, an optimal Ni-Co synergistic effect, and a unique B-doped CoP/Ni2P bimetallic phosphide derived from NiCo-LDH nanosheets exhibit excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity in an alkaline solution at 10 mA cm-2 with the lowest overpotential of 78 mV and long-term stability. This study may offer an appropriate structure and compositional design of bimetallic alkaline HER catalysts.
Keywords: NiCo-LDH; NiCo2−B−P; hollow structure; hydrogen evolution reaction; synergistic effect.