Efficient and durable hydrogen evolution electrocatalyst based on nonmetallic nitrogen doped hexagonal carbon

The feasibility of renewable energy technology, hydrogen production by water electrolysis, depends on the design of efficient and durable electrocatalyst composed of earth-abundant elements. Herein, a highly active and stable nonmetallic electrocatalyst, nitrogen doped hexagonal carbon (NHC), was developed for hydrogen production. It exhibited high activity for hydrogen evolution with a low overpotential of only 65 mV, an apparent exchange current density of 5.7 × 10(-2) mA cm(-2) and a high hydrogen production rate of 20.8 mL cm(-2) h(-1) at -0.35 V. The superior hydrogen evolution activity of NHC stemmed from the intrinsic electrocatalytic property of hexagonal nanodiamond, the rapid charge transfer and abundance of electrocatalytic sites after nitrogen doping. Moreover, NHC was stable in a corrosive acidic solution during electrolysis under high current density.