Significantly Stabilizing Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Induced by Nb-Doping Pt/Co(OH)(2) Nanosheets

High stability and efficiency of electrocatalysts are crucial for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) toward water splitting in an alkaline media. Herein, a novel nano-Pt/Nb-doped Co(OH)(2) (Pt/Nb-Co(OH)(2)) nanosheet is designed and synthesized using water-bath treatment and solvothermal reduction approaches. With nano-Pt uniformly anchored onto Nb-Co(OH)(2) nanosheet, the synthesized Pt/Nb-Co(OH)(2) shows outstanding electrocatalytic performances for alkaline HER, achieving a high stability for at least 33 h, a high mass activity of 0.65 mA mu g(-1) Pt, and a good catalytic activity with a low overpotential of 112 mV at 10 mA cm(-2). Both experimental and theoretical results prove that Nb-doping significantly optimizes the hydrogen adsorption free energy to accelerate the Heyrovsky step for HER, and boosts the adsorption of H2O, which further enhances the water activation. This study provides a new design methodology for the Nb-doped electrocatalysts in an alkaline HER field by facile and green way.