A Strongly Coupled Ag(S)@NiO/Nickel Foam Electrode Induced by Laser Direct Writing for Hydrogen Evolution at...

Highly active, durable, and cost-effective electrodes for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at ultrahigh current densities (≥1 A cm^-2 ) are extremely demanded for industrial high-rate hydrogen production, but challenging. Here, a robust strongly coupled Ag(S)@NiO/nickel foam (NF) electrode is reported. Taking advantage of millisecond laser direct writing in liquid nitrogen technique, lattice-matched and coherent interfaces are formed between Ag nanoparticles with stacking faults (denoted by Ag(S)) and NiO nanosheets, leading to strong interfacial electronic coupling, not only promoting H₂ O adsorption and dissociation on Ni²⁺ but also enhancing H^* adsorption on intrinsically inactive but most electrically conductive Ag. Strong chemical bonding is established at NiO/NF interface, guaranteeing rapid electron transfer and excellent mechanical durability under high-rate hydrogen evolution. The physicochemically stable electrode achieves record-low alkaline HER overpotential of 167 and 180 mV at 1 and 1.5 A cm^-2 , respectively, along with negligible activity decay after 120 h test at ≈1.5 A cm^-2 , surpassing reported non-platinum group metal electrocatalysts.