LAUSR

Abstract Clean hydrogen energy through water splitting via hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) has attracted much interests. It is significant and urgent to search for low-cost non-noble metal electrocatalysts for highly efficient and stable HER. Herein, for the first time, we present a facile and cost-effective hydrothermal and selenization strategy to synthesize NiSe 2 nanoparticles embedded in carbon nanowires (NiSe 2 /C NWs). As a HER electrocatalyst, the NiSe 2 /C NWs hybrid delivers outstanding catalytic performance with a very low Tafel slope of 38.7 mVdec −1 , a small onset potential of ∼−144 mV (vs RHE), and a high cathode current density of 33 mA cm −2 at −250 mV (vs RHE). Moreover, it also exhibits excellent long-term stability of NiSe 2 /C NWs even after 2000 voltammetric sweeps. The superior HER performance of NiSe 2 /C NWs is attributed to its unique structure constructed by ultrafine NiSe 2 nanoparticles homogenously embedded in highly conductive carbon nanowires, which can not only provide abundant HER active sites, but also enhance the conductivity between the nanoparticles. It suggests that NiSe 2 /C NWs hybrid is a promising candidate to replace noble metal electrocatalysts for HER.