Highly active and durable NiCoP electrocatalyst through Ga ion intercalation strategy for long-lasting water electrolysis

Developing non-precious catalysts with optimal catalytic performance is very crucial for sustainable energy-related systems. However, the sluggish kinetics and low efficiency limits their practical applications. Herein, we report several Ga intercalated NiCoP nanoneedle (Ga-NiCoP) catalysts. It indicates that the introduction of Ga ions increases the exposed active sites and accelerates the species reconstruction. The prepared catalyst drives HER with an overpotential of 348 mV at 500 mA cm−2 and 270 mV at 100 mA cm−2 for OER. Meanwhile, it achieves a cell voltage of 1.47 V at current density 10 mA cm−2 in a two-electrode system and maintains stability for 150 h. This work provides a general approach to fabricate some other non-precious metal electrocatalysts to produce hydrogen.