LAUSR

Abstract Replacement of platinum-based electrocatalytic materials by earth abundant counterparts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline media is highly desirable. In this work we report synthesis of unique morphology graphitic nanofibers resembling to herring bone graphitic nanofibers (H-GNFs) by typical CVD method at growth temperature of 650 °C employing NiFe-silica nanocomposites as a nanocatalyst followed by its application in HER activity. The electrochemical performance of NiFe grown H-GNFs shows that it is far better electrocatalyst than bare nickel foam substrate in terms of overpotential, Tafel slope and charge transfer resistance. The grown H-GNF electrocatalytic material shows overpotential of 95 mV at current density of 10 mA/cm2 which is just 46 mV higher than commercial Pt/C (20 wt% Pt) and lower than many reported HER electrocatalyst in alkaline conditions.