Optimizing Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Stability via Minimal Bubble Adhesion at Electrodeposited Crack‐Structured NiP x Catalysts
Open accessAbstract
In response to the ongoing energy crisis, advancing the field of electrocatalytic water splitting is of utmost significance, necessitating the urgent development of high‐performance, cost‐effective, and durable hydrogen evolution reaction catalysts. But the generated gas bubble adherence to the electrode surface and sluggish separation contribute to significant energy loss, primarily due to the insufficient exposure of active sites, thus substantially hindering electrochemical performance. Here, we successfully developed a superaerophobic catalytic electrode by loading phosphorus‐doped nickel metal (NiP x ) onto various conductive substrates via an electrodeposition method. The electrode exhibits a unique surface structure, characterized by prominent surface fissures, which not only exposes additional active sites but also endows the electrode with superaerophobic properties. The NiP x /Ti electrode demonstrates superior electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction, significantly outperforming a platinum plate, displaying an overpotential of mere 216 mV to achieve a current density of −500 mA cm −2 in 1 M KOH. Furthermore, the NiP x /Ti electrode manifests outstanding durability and robustness during continuous electrolysis, maintaining stability at a current density of −10 mA cm −2 over a duration of 2000 h. Owing to the straightforward and scalable preparation methods, this highly efficient and stable NiP x /Ti electrocatalyst offers a novel strategy for the development of industrial water electrolysis.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The cracks in NiPx on Ti mesh increase bubble contact angle from 138° to 152° and reduce adhesion force from 42 μN to virtually 0.
“These cracks can not only significantly increase the bubble contact angle (increased from 138° to 152°) and reduce the adhesion forces (decrease from 42 μN to virtually 0) on the catalyst surface”
From Advances in Surface/Interface Engineering of Under-Water Superaerophobic Electrodes for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction by Manipulating of Bubbles (2026) · cites this paper as [68]
NiPx deposited on Ti mesh for 4 h spontaneously forms surface cracks, whereas deposition for 15 min does not.
“They found that comparing with the electrode deposited for 15 min, the NiPx on the surface of the sample deposited for 4 h would spontaneously form cracks (Fig. 10b).”
From Advances in Surface/Interface Engineering of Under-Water Superaerophobic Electrodes for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction by Manipulating of Bubbles (2026) · cites this paper as [68]
The cracked NiPx electrode produces H2 bubbles much smaller than those on Pt plate and bare Ti mesh and reduces overpotential.
“making the generated H2 bubbles much smaller than those on Pt plate and bare Ti mesh, but also reduce the overpotential.”
From Advances in Surface/Interface Engineering of Under-Water Superaerophobic Electrodes for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction by Manipulating of Bubbles (2026) · cites this paper as [68]
Cites
Generalized Gradient Approximation Made Simple
Perdew, J. P., Burke, K., & Ernzerhof, M. (1996) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.77.3865 · Cited by 215,824 · see citing works
Projector augmented-wave method
Blöchl, P. E. (1994) · Physical Review B · doi:10.1103/physrevb.50.17953 · Cited by 92,732 · see citing works
Design of electrocatalysts for oxygen- and hydrogen-involving energy conversion reactions
Jiao, Y., Zheng, Y., Jaroniec, M., & Qiao, S. Z. (2015) · Chemical Society Reviews · doi:10.1039/c4cs00470a · Cited by 5,388 · see citing works
Alternative energy technologies
Dresselhaus, M. S., & Thomas, I. L. (2001) · Nature · doi:10.1038/35104599 · Cited by 4,894 · see citing works
Feng, L.-L., Yu, G., Wu, Y., Li, G.-D., Li, H., Sun, Y., Asefa, T., Chen, W., & Zou, X. (2015) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/jacs.5b08186 · Cited by 1,776 · see citing works
Self‐Supported Transition‐Metal‐Based Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen and Oxygen Evolution
Sun, H., Yan, Z., Liu, F., Xu, W., Cheng, F., & Chen, J. (2019) · Advanced Materials · doi:10.1002/adma.201806326 · Cited by 1,725 · see citing works
Advanced Technology Paths to Global Climate Stability: Energy for a Greenhouse Planet
Hoffert, M. I., Caldeira, K., Benford, G., Criswell, D. R., Green, C., Herzog, H. J., Jain, A. K., Kheshgi, H. S., Lackner, K. S., Lewis, J. S., et al. (2002) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1072357 · Cited by 1,550 · see citing works
Faber, M. S., Dziedzic, R., Lukowski, M. A., Kaiser, N. S., Ding, Q., & Jin, S. (2014) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/ja504099w · Cited by 1,372 · see citing works
Jiao, Y., Zheng, Y., Davey, K., & Qiao, S.-Z. (2016) · Nature Energy · doi:10.1038/nenergy.2016.130 · Cited by 1,196 · see citing works
Chen, G., Wang, T., Zhang, J., Liu, P., Sun, H., Zhuang, X., Chen, M. W., & Feng, X. (2018) · Advanced Materials · doi:10.1002/adma.201706279 · Cited by 934 · see citing works
You, B., Jiang, N., Sheng, M., Bhushan, M. W., & Sun, Y. (2015) · ACS Catalysis · doi:10.1021/acscatal.5b02193 · Cited by 817 · see citing works
Dinh, C., Jain, A., de Arquer, F. P. G., Luna, P. D., Li, J., Wang, N., Zheng, X. R., Cai, J., Gregory, B. Z., Voznyy, O., et al. (2018) · Nature Energy · doi:10.1038/s41560-018-0296-8 · Cited by 717 · see citing works
Liu, Y., Li, X., Zhang, Q., Li, W., Xie, Y., Liu, H., Shang, L., Liu, Z., Chen, Z., Gu, L., et al. (2020) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.201913910 · Cited by 647 · see citing works
Self-citationYu, X., Yu, Z.-Y., Zhang, X.-L., Zheng, Y.-R., Duan, Y., Gao, Q., Wu, R., Sun, B., Gao, M.-R., Wang, G., et al. (2019) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/jacs.9b02527 · Cited by 568 · see citing works
Li, Y., Zhang, H., Xu, T., Lu, Z., Wu, X., Wan, P., Sun, X., & Jiang, L. (2015) · Advanced Functional Materials · doi:10.1002/adfm.201404250 · Cited by 515 · see citing works
Recent progress on the long‐term stability of hydrogen evolution reaction electrocatalysts
Zhai, W., Ma, Y., Chen, D., Ho, J. C., Dai, Z., & Qu, Y. (2022) · InfoMat · doi:10.1002/inf2.12357 · Cited by 375 · see citing works
Li, X., Wang, Y., Wang, J., Da, Y., Zhang, J., Li, L., Zhong, C. M., Deng, Y., Han, X., & Hu, W. (2020) · Advanced Materials · doi:10.1002/adma.202003414 · Cited by 315 · see citing works
Influencing factors of water electrolysis electrical efficiency
Mazloomi, S. K., & Sulaiman, N. (2012) · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.rser.2012.03.052 · Cited by 311 · see citing works
Water electrolysis in the presence of an ultrasonic field
Li, S.-D., Wang, C., & Chen, C. (2009) · Electrochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.electacta.2009.01.087 · Cited by 230 · see citing works
Seo, B., Jung, G. Y., Jin, Y., Jeong, H. Y., Cheon, J. Y., Lee, J. H., Kim, H. Y., Kim, J. C., Shin, H. S., Kwak, S. K., et al. (2015) · ACS Nano · doi:10.1021/acsnano.5b00786 · Cited by 229 · see citing works
Liu, T., Liang, Y., Liu, Q., Sun, X., He, Y., & Asiri, A. M. (2015) · Electrochemistry Communications · doi:10.1016/j.elecom.2015.08.011 · Cited by 220 · see citing works
A Ta-TaS2 monolith catalyst with robust and metallic interface for superior hydrogen evolution
Yu, Q., Zhang, Z., Qiu, S., Luo, Y., Liu, Z., Yang, F., Liu, H., Ge, S., Zou, X., Ding, B., et al. (2021) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-021-26315-7 · Cited by 218 · see citing works
Water electrolysis enhanced by super gravity field for hydrogen production
Wang, M., Wang, Z., & Guo, Z. (2010) · International Journal of Hydrogen Energy · doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2010.01.128 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
Liu, X., Wang, X., Yuan, X., Dong, W., & Huang, F. (2015) · Journal of Materials Chemistry A · doi:10.1039/c5ta07047c · Cited by 176 · see citing works
Self-citationTransition-Metal (Fe, Co, and Ni)-Based Nanofiber Electrocatalysts for Water Splitting
Cao, X., Wang, T., & Jiao, L. (2021) · Advanced Fiber Materials · doi:10.1007/s42765-021-00065-z · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Li, D., Liao, L., Zhou, H., Zhao, Y., Cai, F., Zeng, J., Liu, F., Wu, H., Tang, D., & Yu, F. (2020) · Materials Today Physics · doi:10.1016/j.mtphys.2020.100314 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Self-citationHao, J., Yang, W., Huang, Z., & Zhang, C. (2016) · Advanced Materials Interfaces · doi:10.1002/admi.201600236 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
Superaerophobic Electrode with Metal@Metal‐Oxide Powder Catalyst for Oxygen Evolution Reaction
He, J., Hu, B., & Zhao, Y. (2016) · Advanced Functional Materials · doi:10.1002/adfm.201602116 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Self-citationGong, Y., Xu, Z., Pan, H., Lin, Y., Yang, Z., & Du, X. (2018) · Journal of Materials Chemistry A · doi:10.1039/c7ta11104e · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Cho, K. M., Deshmukh, P. R., & Shin, W. G. (2021) · Ultrasonics Sonochemistry · doi:10.1016/j.ultsonch.2021.105796 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Li, P., Duan, X., Wang, S., Zheng, L., Li, Y., Duan, H., Kuang, Y., & Sun, X. (2019) · Small · doi:10.1002/smll.201904043 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Du, Y., Li, Z., Liu, Y., Yang, Y. L., & Wang, L. (2018) · Applied Surface Science · doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2018.06.167 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
Controllable Underwater Oil‐Adhesion‐Interface Films Assembled from Nonspherical Particles
Huang, Y., Liu, M., Wang, J., Zhou, J., Wang, L., Song, Y., & Jiang, L. (2011) · Advanced Functional Materials · doi:10.1002/adfm.201101598 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Shi, F., Gao, W., Shan, H., Li, F., Xiong, Y., Peng, J., Xiang, Q., Chen, W., Tao, P., Song, C., et al. (2020) · Chem · doi:10.1016/j.chempr.2020.06.004 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Understanding of the intensified effect of super gravity on hydrogen evolution reaction
Wang, M., Wang, Z., & Guo, Z. (2009) · International Journal of Hydrogen Energy · doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2009.05.043 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Feng, G. H., Kuang, Y., Li, Y., & Sun, X. (2015) · Nano Research · doi:10.1007/s12274-015-0836-5 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Sun, Z., Wang, X., Yuan, M., Han, Y., Su, Y., Shi, K., Nan, C., Li, H., Sun, G., Zhu, J. Y., et al. (2020) · ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces · doi:10.1021/acsami.0c03796 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Single‐atom catalysts supported on ordered porous materials: Synthetic strategies and applications
Xue, K., Mo, Y., Long, B., Wei, W. Y., Shan, C., Guo, S., & Niu, L. (2022) · InfoMat · doi:10.1002/inf2.12296 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Interface Effect of Ru‐MoS2 Nanoflowers on Lignin Substrate for Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution Activity
Xu, Y., Jiang, X., Shao, G., Xiang, H., Si, S., Li, X., Hu, T. S., Hong, G., Dong, S., Li, H., et al. (2020) · Energy & environment materials · doi:10.1002/eem2.12104 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Chemical precipitation synthesis of porous Ni2P2O7 nanowires for supercapacitor
Zhou, Y., Liu, C., Li, X., Sun, L., Wu, D., Li, J., Huo, P., & Wang, H. (2019) · Journal of Alloys and Compounds · doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2019.03.192 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Lin, L., Sun, Z., Yuan, M., He, J., Long, R., Li, H., Nan, C., Sun, G., & Ma, S. (2018) · Journal of Materials Chemistry A · doi:10.1039/c8ta00993g · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Guo, D., Duan, D., Gao, J., Zhou, X., Liu, S., & Wang, Y. (2022) · International Journal of Hydrogen Energy · doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.12.011 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Ashassi‐Sorkhabi, H., Badakhshan, P. L., & Asghari, E. (2016) · Chemical Engineering Journal · doi:10.1016/j.cej.2016.04.069 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Xu, H., Niu, X., Liu, Z., Sun, M., Liu, Z., Tian, Z., Wu, X., Huang, B., Tang, Y., & Yan, C. (2021) · Small · doi:10.1002/smll.202103064 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Gradient porous electrode-inducing bubble splitting for highly efficient hydrogen evolution
Yang, Y., Li, J., Yang, Y., Lan, L., Liu, R., Fu, Q., Zhang, L., Liao, Q., & Zhu, X. (2021) · Applied Energy · doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.118278 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Wu, Y., Gao, Y., He, H., & Zhang, P. (2019) · Applied Surface Science · doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.03.025 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Tamilarasi, S., Kumar, R. S., Cho, K., Kim, C.-J., & Yoo, D. J. (2023) · Materials Today Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.mtchem.2023.101765 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Direct Solvothermal Synthesis of Phase-Pure Colloidal NiO Nanocrystals
Brewster, D. A., Bian, Y., & Knowles, K. E. (2020) · Chemistry of Materials · doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.9b05045 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Morphology‐controlled Tantalum Diselenide Structures as Self‐optimizing Hydrogen Evolution Catalysts
Wang, M., Zhang, L., Huang, M., Liu, Y., Zhong, Y., Pan, J., Wang, Y., & Zhu, H. (2019) · Energy & environment materials · doi:10.1002/eem2.12052 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Ni foam based catalysts for hydrogen evolution: from laboratory research to industrial applications
Shan, K., Zhao, Y., Zhang, B., Zhang, A., Xiao, W., Wei, S., Lin, J., & Pang, H. (2025) · Chemical Engineering Journal · doi:10.1016/j.cej.2025.164801 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Self-citationLi, J., Wang, X.-W., Niu, J.-Q., Li, S., Guo, C.-W., Qiu, Z.-X., & Gao, S. (2025) · International Journal of Hydrogen Energy · doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2025.02.310 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Jiang, B., Xiao, H., Li, J., Tang, H., Chen, H., Deng, S., Tan, Y., Yu, C., Wang, J., Huang, A., et al. (2024) · Small · doi:10.1002/smll.202406900 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Zhang, H.-M., Gao, Y., Li, J., Sun, J., Wang, D., Wang, L., & Meng, Y. (2024) · Fuel · doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2024.132652 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Mao, Z., Zhou, Y., Guo, Y., Liu, Y., Liu, Y., Cui, M., Ou, Q., & Zhang, S. (2025) · Small · doi:10.1002/smll.202506058 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Yang, H., Wang, H., Wang, L., Sun, M., Xu, F., Ye, H., Ren, J., & Yuan, Z. (2025) · Journal of Colloid and Interface Science · doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2025.137765 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Xu, P., Wang, B., Wang, L., Liu, Z., Wang, Z., Liu, Z., Gong, Y., Wang, B., Ding, F., Wang, L., et al. (2025) · Colloids and Surfaces A Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects · doi:10.1016/j.colsurfa.2025.137312 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Xie, C., Li, F., & Zhang, H. (2024) · Energy & Fuels · doi:10.1021/acs.energyfuels.4c03150 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Advanced bubble control engineered electrodes for high-efficient hydrogen evolution
Wang, X., Li, W., Xie, M., Wang, X., Shuai, Y., & Wang, Z. (2025) · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.rser.2025.116368 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Modification of CoMoO 4 by an Fe doping strategy for efficient electrolysis of water
Xu, G., Huang, Y., Peng, J., Yu, L., & Wang, X. (2024) · Dalton Transactions · doi:10.1039/d4dt03252g · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Facile electrodeposition of Fe-P coating with enhanced HER activity in acidic media
Zarebidaki, A., & Alimagham, M. (2025) · Fuel · doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2025.134898 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
He, A., Chen, F., He, J., Zhang, X., Xie, S., Yao, N., Guo, Z., & Xu, W. (2026) · Nano-Micro Letters · doi:10.1007/s40820-026-02198-5 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Deshmukh, P., Sutar, P., & Kadam, A. V. (2025) · ChemistrySelect · doi:10.1002/slct.202501721 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Peng, Z., Li, T., Luo, Y., Ma, J., Chen, Z., Wu, Y., Liu, C., & Peng, X. (2025) · Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.jelechem.2025.119198 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Li, Z., Ding, P., Guan, L., Xing, D., Lian, Q., Cao, Y., Zhang, Z., Zhang, S., & Tao, J. (2025) · Journal of Alloys and Compounds · doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2025.181457 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Liu, Z., Lei, Y., Ji, Z., Hu, X., Tian, D., Zhang, A., & Wang, L. (2025) · Chemical Communications · doi:10.1039/d5cc05580f · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Xu, P., Wang, B., Wang, L., Li, N., Liu, Z., Liu, Z., Wang, B., Ding, F., Wang, L., Yang, Y., et al. (2025) · Journal of Materials Research and Technology · doi:10.1016/j.jmrt.2025.11.199 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Chen, G., Liu, Z., Zheng, H., Huang, C., Xu, Y., Yang, Y., Wu, Y., Cai, W., & Cui, J. W. (2025) · International Journal of Hydrogen Energy · doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2025.151262
Ren, H., Cao, Y. H., Ling, T., Zhu, J., Xu, J., & Sheng, M. (2025) · ACS Applied Nano Materials · doi:10.1021/acsanm.5c03966
Dendritic FeCoNiP@HEAs Mott-Schottky heterojunction for efficient overall water splitting
Niu, J.-Q., Wang, X.-W., Liu, X., Fu, X.-Y., Li, S.-Q., & Wang, X. (2026) · International Journal of Hydrogen Energy · doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2026.156258
Self-citationZhao, B., Liu, X., Lv, C., Cao, S., Wang, G., Zhao, Q., Li, W. R., & Wang, S. (2026) · Journal of Alloys and Compounds · doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2026.190025
Self-citationZhao, J., Li, L., Tan, Y., Sun, N., Song, C.-L., & Yang, J. (2026) · Journal of Materials Chemistry C · doi:10.1039/d6tc01562j
Pang, H., Chen, S., Qu, T., Fu, J., Xiao, J., & Hong, B. (2026) · International Journal of Hydrogen Energy · doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2026.157918
Engineering chemically hydrophilic electrodes with ion selectivity for seawater hydrogen evolution
Cai, Z., Li, Z., Feng, D., Qin, X., Ladan, U. M., Yuan, X., Zhou, C., & Ma, B. (2026) · National Science Open · doi:10.1360/nso/20260083
- Authors
- Sun, Q., Hao, X., Zhang, D., Zhang, T., Zhao, Y., Huang, X., & Liu, X.
- Affiliations
- Northwestern Polytechnical University (CN)
- Shenzhen University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Zhao, Yuanfang
- Huang, Xiaolei
- Liu, Xuqing
- Venue
- ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL MATERIALS
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2024-04-20
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 5
- ISSN
- 2575-0348 (ISSN-L)
- 2575-0356
- OpenAlex
- W4394976310
- Cited by
- 24
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 4
- FWCI
- 1.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Energy & environment materials (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (52375204)
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (0604023SH0201079, 0604023GH0202079)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Fuel Cells and Related Materials
- Keywords
- hydrogen evolution reaction, electrocatalysis, bubble adhesion, superaerophobic surfaces, electrodeposition, titanium substrate, water electrolysis, catalyst stability, active site exposure
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
