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Dopamine-assisted synthesis of rGO@NiPd@NC sandwich structure for highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction

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Abstract

We report a facile one-pot solvothermal synthesis of NiPd alloy homogeneously encapsulated between reduced graphene oxide sheets and N-doped carbon layers (rGO@NiPd@NC) with sandwich structure. In this study, dopamine served as both carbon-nitrogen source and green reagent, which cannot only form N-doped carbon layers encasing metal nanoparticles through high-temperature roasting but also co-reduce metal ions to form NiPd alloy. The rGO@NiPd@NC nanocomposite exhibits enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity with a small overpotential of 56 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and a Tafel slope approaching 33 mV dec−1 in acidic aqueous media, which are similar to the HER activity of commercial Pt/C catalyst (52 mV at j = 10 mA cm−2; Tafel slope, 31 mV dec−1). Additionally, the electrocatalyst which reveals excellent electrochemical stability is reflected in that the polarization curve shows negligible difference after 1000 cycles and the current density only slightly decreases within 20 h test, providing more possibilities for practical application in the future.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (21978048, 51673040, 21878047 and 21676056), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2242019k30042), Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX19_0103), Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PADA) (1107047002), Fund Project for Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements of Jiangsu Province of China (BA2018045).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southeast University, Jiangsu Optoelectronic Functional Materials and Engineering Laboratory, Nanjing, 211189, People’s Republic of China

    Jiaqi Wang, Jiehua Bao, Yuming Zhou, Yiwei Zhang, Baiwang Sun, Mingliang Wang, Xiaoli Sheng, Wenqi Liu, Yi Xue & Chang Guo

  2. Southeast University-Red Sun Research Center for Intelligent Industry, Nanjing, 211189, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Yuming Zhou, Yiwei Zhang, Baiwang Sun, Mingliang Wang, Chaoran Luo, Yi Xue, Chang Guo & Xinchun Chen

  3. Nanjing Red Sun Biochemical Co., Ltd., Nanjing, 210000, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Chaoran Luo, Yi Xue, Chang Guo & Xinchun Chen

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  1. Jiaqi Wang
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  3. Yuming Zhou
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Correspondence to Yuming Zhou or Yiwei Zhang.

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Wang, J., Bao, J., Zhou, Y. et al. Dopamine-assisted synthesis of rGO@NiPd@NC sandwich structure for highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction. J Solid State Electrochem 24, 137–144 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-019-04459-3

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