Superior MoTiN and NiMoTiN coating electrode with platinum-like catalytic activity fabricated by plasma electrolytic oxidation

Electrolyzing water is an effective and feasible technology to achieve a large-scale hydrogen production in industry. However, it is still challenging to develop an efficient approach to fabricate a superior and stable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrodes with low cost and outstanding catalytic efficiency. This work presents an innovative surface modification technique of plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) to fabricate superior MoN based coating electrodes. By simply introducing Na2MoO4 and NiAc2 into the electrolyte, a novel MoTiN and NiMoTiN coatings were successfully achieved on the surface of a titanium substrate by PEO and annealing treatments, which exhibits excellent mechanical adhesion and platinum-like catalytic properties. Importantly, it has been demonstrated that the newly formed MoTiN solid solution combined by active Mo2N and conductive TiN can contribute the superior catalytic activity and the subsequent Ni doping can effectively stabilize the structure and activity of MoTiN. Under the alkaline environment of 1 M KOH, the MoTiN and NiMoTiN coated electrodes require only 126 and 121 mV overpotential, respectively, to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2. Additionally, under the same test conditions, NiMoTiN can operate stably for over 24 h, demonstrating excellent HER catalytic activity and stability. This work provides new insights into the preparation of HER electrodes with superior mechanical properties and excellent catalytic performance towards industrial hydrogen production.