In situ growth of a Ni-Co-B-Yb rare earth composite electrode: preparation and electrocatalytic hydrogen precipitation performance

The exploration and development of low-cost and highly active non-precious metal hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts are important but still challenging for practical applications in water electrolysis. In this study, in-situ-grown rare earth (RE) composite catalytic electrodes (Ni-Co-B-Yb/NF) were prepared on a three-dimensional nickel foam (NF) substrate by chemical deposition, and the structure and morphology of the catalytic electrodes were characterized and their hydrogen precipitation performance was investigated in 1 mol·L⁻¹ KOH solution. The results show that the addition of Yb can change the morphology and electronic structure of the electrode and improve the HER catalytic performance of the catalyst material. The Ni-Co-B-Yb /NF exhibited the best hydrogen precipitation performance when the Yb and Co concentrations were 3 g·L⁻¹ and 5 g·L⁻¹, respectively. At a current density of 10 mA·cm⁻², the hydrogen precipitation overpotential was 57 mV, and the Tafel slope was only 73 mV·dec⁻¹. In addition, after 100 h of long-term stability test and 2000 cycles of cyclic voltammetry (CV) test, the catalyst showed good electrochemical stability. good electrochemical stability. The experimental results show that the introduction of Yb can enhance the HER catalytic performance of Ni-Co-B materials, and the changes of Yb and Co concentrations have a large effect on the electrocatalytic performance. This work enriches the knowledge of rare-earth composite catalysts for electrolytic water catalysis.