Mesoporous Rh nanoparticles as efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction

[Display omitted] •Mesoporous rhodium nanoparticles are synthesized using polymeric micelle template.•Mesoporous structure provides large accessible surface area and fast transport pathway.•Low-coordinated atoms enhance electrocatalytic activity.•MRNs electrocatalyst exhibits excellent HER activity with robust stability. In the face of hydrogen society, considerable efforts to develop highly active and stable electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) have been undertaken to realize sustainable hydrogen production using water splitting. A rational design of mesoporous structure is considered as a promising approach for efficient electrochemical reaction. Herein, we demonstrate the mesoporous rhodium nanoparticles (MRNs) synthesized by simple chemical reduction using polymeric micelle template for the high electrocatalytic performance of HER in an acidic media. Due to the large accessible surface area and abundant low-coordinated atoms on the concave pore surface, our MRNs exhibits the lower overpotential of 29.4mV at a current density of 10mA/cm2 for HER, compared to 33.8mV of Rh black. The MRNs also achieves a small Tafel slope of 30.9mV/dec, enhanced exchange current density and excellent stability in long-term operation. These kinetic and stability properties are attributed to the uniform mesoporous morphology and the robust structure of the MRNs.