Nanoflower-like NiLa-Ni2P/C electrocatalysts derived from in-situ La-doped Ni-MOF for enhanced alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction performance

Transition metal-carbon compounds derived from Ni-MOFs show promise as catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) water electrolysis but suffer from limited reactivity and stability. Elemental doping is a key strategy to enhance both catalytic activity and durability. Here, we present an effective approach to simultaneously improve catalyst performance and structural robustness by in-situ doping a Ni-MOF precursor with La. Using a La-doped nanoflower-structured NiLa-MOF precursor as a self-sacrificing template, we obtained a highly active and stable nanoflower-like NiLa-Ni 2 P/C electrocatalyst via pyrolysis and phosphidation.Uniform La doping into the MOF precursor not only promotes nanoflower-like morphology formation and enhances stability, but also tunes the electronic structure of Ni active centres, markedly improving catalytic reactivity. Consequently, the NiLa-Ni 2 P/C catalyst delivers exceptional HER performance: only 167 mV overpotential and 90 mV·dec −1 Tafel slope at 10 mA·cm −2 in 1.0 M KOH. It also shows superior long-term stability over undoped Ni-Ni 2 P/C at the same current density. This work provides new insights and practical strategies for rare-earth-element-based HER catalysts in alkaline water electrolysis.