Introducing a novel strategy for growing dispersed metal nanoparticles at reduced graphene oxide (rGO)
and nitrogen-doped GO (rNGO), this work aimed to design Pt-free electrocatalysts for water splitting. For
this purpose, gold nanoparticles were fabricated by the in-situ galvanic exchange of layered double
hydroxide (LDH) metals on rGO and rNGO. The significant roles of the galvanic exchange method, LaNi-
LDH, and the Au nanoparticles synthesized on the rGO/rNGO-LaNi-LDH surface (Au @ rGO/rNGO-LaNi-
LDH) were investigated via a variety of methods and certain novel properties such as nitrogen-metal
bridge bonds between the metal component of Au @ LDH and the nitrogen component of rNGO were
established, which indicated the semi-nanorod morphology of the Au @ rGO/rNGO-LaNi-LDH thus pro-
duced. Electrochemical studies were used to reveal an onset potential of only
80 mV vs. RHE at an
exchange current density of about 10 mA cm
2 with a small Tafel slope of 60 mV dec
1 for the hydrogen
generation reaction in a 0.5 mol L
1 H2SO4 solution. The isolated island architecture of rNGO/LaNi-LDH
and rNGO/Au @ LaNi-LDH were found to promise rich and active sites to be exposed, which allow for the
effective interaction of the reactants (e.g., protons) with these active sites.