Hydrogen is one of the most promising energy carriers to replace fossil fuels and electrolyzing water to produce hydrogen is a very effective method. However, designing highly active and stable non-precious metal hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts that can be used in universal pH is a huge challenge. Here, we have reported a simple strategy to develop a highly active and durable non-precious MoO₂-Ni electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in a wide pH range. The MoO₂-Ni catalyst exhibits a superior electrocatalytic performance with low overpotentials of 46, 69, and 84 mV to reach -10 mA cm^-2 in 1.0 M KOH, 0.5 M H₂SO₄, and 1.0 M PBS electrolytes, respectively. At the same time, the catalyst also shows outstanding stability over a wide pH range. It is particularly noted that the catalytic performance of MoO₂-Ni in alkaline solution is comparable to the highest performing catalysts reported. The outstanding HER performance is mainly attributed to the collective effect of the rational morphological design, electronic structure engineering, and strong interfacial coupling between MoO₂ and Ni in heterojunctions. This work provides a viable method for the synthesis of inexpensive and efficient HER electrocatalysts for the use in wide pH ranges.

氢是替代化石燃料的最有前途的能源载体之一，电解水产生氢是一种非常有效的方法。然而，设计可用于通用pH的高活性和稳定的非贵金属析氢电催化剂是一个巨大的挑战。在这里，我们报告了一种简单的策略，可以开发出一种高活性和持久性的非贵金属MoO ₂ -Ni电催化剂，用于在宽pH范围内进行析氢反应（HER）。MoO ₂ -Ni催化剂具有优异的电催化性能，在1.0 M KOH，0.5 MH ₂ SO _4中的低过电势分别为46、69和84 mV，可达到-10 mA cm ^-2和1.0 M PBS电解质。同时，该催化剂在宽pH范围内也显示出优异的稳定性。特别要指出的是，MoO ₂ -Ni在碱性溶液中的催化性能与报道的最高性能的催化剂相当。杰出的HER性能主要归因于合理的形态设计，电子结构工程以及异质结中MoO ₂和Ni之间的强界面耦合的集体效应。这项工作为合成廉价且有效的HER电催化剂提供了可行的方法，以用于宽pH范围。