Engineering monolayer Ti₃C₂T_x-Ni/C heterostructures for enhanced hydrogen evolution catalysis

With the growing demand for clean energy technologies, the development of highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts has become increasingly critical for advancing renewable energy systems. In this work, a heterostructure catalyst was fabricated by constructing an interface between a Ni/C-doped nanofilm and monolayer Ti₃C₂T_xusing a magnetron sputtering technique. In 1 M KOH, the optimized catalyst with a Ni/C doping ratio of 1:1 exhibited excellent catalytic performance and long-term stability, delivering a low overpotential of 111 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm^-2. The catalyst maintained its high activity after a 24 h stability test. The enhanced HER activity can be ascribed to the formation of the heterointerface, which promotes efficient adsorption of H⁺and desorption of H₂, along with the synergistic interaction between Ni and C species. This study presents a rational strategy for constructing high-performance, durable, and cost-effective HER electrocatalysts based on Ti₃C₂T_x@NiC heterostructures.