High-Index Faceted Ni₃S₂ Nanosheet Arrays as Highly Active and Ultrastable Electrocatalysts for Water Splitting

Elaborate design of highly active and stable catalysts from Earth-abundant elements has great potential to produce materials that can replace the noble-metal-based catalysts commonly used in a range of useful (electro)chemical processes. Here we report, for the first time, a synthetic method that leads to in situ growth of {2¯10} high-index faceted Ni₃S₂ nanosheet arrays on nickel foam (NF). We show that the resulting material, denoted Ni₃S₂/NF, can serve as a highly active, binder-free, bifunctional electrocatalyst for both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Ni₃S₂/NF is found to give ∼100% Faradaic yield toward both HER and OER and to show remarkable catalytic stability (for >200 h). Experimental results and theoretical calculations indicate that Ni₃S₂/NF's excellent catalytic activity is mainly due to the synergistic catalytic effects produced in it by its nanosheet arrays and exposed {2¯10} high-index facets.