Benzenehexol-Modified Co2(OH)2CO3 Nanowire Substrates for Highly Efficient Electrocatalytic Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution

The construction of special heterogeneous interface structures without precious metals is found to be efficient for the development of low-cost and high-activity hydrogen evolution reduction (HER) catalysts. Here, we report a moderate method to develop an efficient and stable HER electrode especially composed of the Co2(OH)2CO3 (COC) nanowire substrate modified by benzenehexol (HOB) molecules. This kind of interfacial structure leads to prominent electrocatalytic HER performance in an alkaline environment with a low overpotential of 130.8 mV at a current of 20 mA cm–2. Meanwhile, density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the nanoscale synergistic interfacial mechanism and strong electron interaction between HOB and COC can reduce the activation energy for HER.