In situ alloying silver/copper nanostructure as efficient electrocatalysts toward electrochemical water splitting

Electrochemical water splitting for hydrogen production has gained significant attention in the renewable energy field. In this study, we have developed a simple and reproducible method to synthesize silver-copper nanocomposites as efficient catalysts for water splitting. Despite silver's lower activity toward both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), our Ag/Cu catalyst exhibits improved catalytic activity compared to similar composition electrocatalysts. Notably, the Ag/Cu catalyst demonstrates a remarkably lower overpotential of 203 mV at 100 mA cm⁻² for HER and only 205 mV at 100 mA cm⁻² for OER. Moreover, the catalyst exhibits enhanced charge transfer ability with lower charge resistance for both OER and HER, indicating its critical role in electrocatalytic activity.