Strongly coupled dual zerovalent nonmetal doped nickel phosphide Nanoparticles/N, B-graphene hybrid for pH-Universal hydrogen evolution catalysis

•Dual zerovalent nonmetal doped Ni2P nanoparticles/N,B-graphene hybrid catalysts (N,B-Ni2P/G) are reasonably designed and synthetized.•N,B-Ni2P/G showed improved hydrogen evolution activity at all pH values.•The enhanced activity was ascribed to the optimized water and hydrogen adsorption free energy by N,B atoms dual incorporation. The large-scale implementation of hydrogen by electrochemical water splitting demands highly active, durable and inexpensive platinum-free catalysts. Nevertheless, developing efficient non-noble metal based hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts that can work in all pH solutions still remains as a huge uphill. Herein, we report dual zerovalent nonmetal (N and B) doped Ni2P nanoparticles hybridized with N, B-graphene (N, B-Ni2P/G) could function as electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution in all pHs with high activity and stability. In-situ phosphidation of a 2D/2D heterojunction of Ni-Bi nanosheets/graphene (Ni-Bi NS/G) under ammonia atmosphere results in a strongly couple N, B-Ni2P/G hybrid electrocatalyst with (i) the enhanced intrinsic catalytic activity from dual zerovalent doped Ni2P structure, (ii) 0D architectures with a high surface area exposure yield, and (iii) the enhanced charge transport ability by N, B-graphene support. As a result, the designed N, B-Ni2P/G exhibits superior electrocatalytic HER performance and remarkable stability at all pH ranges. Our protocol may open up new ways to design progressive electrocatalysts for energy-related applications.