Synthesis and electrochemical study of coinage metal nanodendrites for hydrogen evolution reaction

Herein, we report a facile one-step synthesis route to fabricate the coinage metal nanodendrites (NDs) via a tailored galvanic replacement reaction (GRR). Cu, Ag and Au NDs are directly grown on glassy carbon plate (GCP) from the mixture of their precursor solutions and Zn dust. The formed NDs are uniformly distributed to the substrate and obtained the unique structures with sharp tips and tertiary branches. The electrocatalytic activity of the synthesized NDs towards the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is further investigated in 0.5 M H2SO4 using linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and the Tafel slope. The results demonstrate that the nanodendrites formed through the GRR process exhibit greater catalytical activity towards HER in comparison to the polycrystalline Cu, Ag and Au. The prepared Au NDs exhibits the highest catalytic performance with a current density of −10.68 mA cm−2 at overpotential of 67 mV and a low Tafel slope of 65 mV dec−1. The simple and easy synthesis approach, the unique morphology and high electrocatalytic activity and excellent stability make the developed Cu, Ag and Au NDs highly efficient catalysts for green energy and electrochemical applications.