High gravimetric energy density, earth-abundance, and environmental friendliness of hydrogen sources have inspired the utilization of hydrogen fuel as a clean alternative to fossil fuels. Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), a half reaction of water splitting, is crucial to the low-cost production of pure H₂ fuels but necessitates the use of electrocatalysts to expedite reaction kinetics. Owing to the availability of low-cost oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts for the counter electrode in alkaline media and the lack of low-cost OER catalysts in acidic media, researchers have focused on developing HER catalysts in alkaline media with high activity and stability. Nickel is well-known as an HER catalyst and continuous efforts have been undertaken to improve Ni-based catalysts as alkaline electrolyzers. In this review, we summarize earlier studies of HER activity and mechanism on Ni surfaces, along with recent progress in the optimization of the Ni-based catalysts using various modern techniques. Recently developed Ni-based HER catalysts are categorized according to their chemical nature, and the advantages as well as limitations of each category are discussed. Among all Ni-based catalysts, Ni-based alloys and Ni-based hetero-structure exhibit the most promising electrocatalytic activity and stability owing to the fine-tuning of their surface adsorption properties via a synergistic nearby element or domain. Finally, selected applications of the developed Ni-based HER catalysts are highlighted, such as water splitting, the chloralkali process, and microbial electrolysis cell.

Recently, interest in aluminium ion batteries with aluminium anodes, graphite cathodes and ionic liquid electrolytes has increased; however, much remains to be done to increase the cathode capacity and to understand details of the anion–graphite intercalation mechanism. Here, an aluminium ion battery cell made using pristine natural graphite flakes achieves a specific capacity of ∼110 mAh g⁻¹ with Coulombic efficiency ∼98%, at a current density of 99 mA g⁻¹ (0.9 C) with clear discharge voltage plateaus (2.25–2.0 V and 1.9–1.5 V). The cell has a capacity of 60 mAh g⁻¹ at 6 C, over 6,000 cycles with Coulombic efficiency ∼ 99%. Raman spectroscopy shows two different intercalation processes involving chloroaluminate anions at the two discharging plateaus, while C–Cl bonding on the surface, or edges of natural graphite, is found using X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Finally, theoretical calculations are employed to investigate the intercalation behaviour of choloraluminate anions in the graphite electrode.

This work proposes a novel approach to modulate the nucleation and growth of perovskite crystals in planar perovskite (CH₃NH₃PbI_3−xCl_x) solar cells by intermixing precursor-capped inorganic nanoparticles of PbS. A small amount of dispersed PbS nanoparticles which were covered with perovskite precursor molecules of methylammonium iodide (CH₃NH₃I, MAI) through the ligand-exchange treatment functioned as effective seed-like nucleation sites to promote the formation of perovskite lattice structures. Through this intermixing-seeded growth technique, substantial morphological improvements, such as increased crystal domains, enhanced coverage, and uniformity, were realized in the perovskite thin films, and the corresponding solar cell devices exhibited a promising power conversion efficiency of 17.4%, showing an enhancement of approximately 25% compared to that of the controlled pristine solar cell device. The substantially enhanced crystal orientation, particularly along the direction perpendicular to the substrate, was evident from the synchrotron-based grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering data. This observation was consistent with the enhanced carrier diffusion lengths and excellent reproducibility of high fill factors of the planar heterojunction perovskite devices fabricated through the proposed technique.