Cost-effective non-precious nickel borate nanorods for integrated energy and environmental applications

For the sustainable progress, we need to develop affordable, high-performance catalysts that address energy conversion and environmental remediation simultaneously. To meet this challenge, we prepared non-precious nickel borate nanorods using a facile method, providing a high-performance alternative to noble-metal catalysts. Their unique one-dimensional (1D) structure offers an optimal geometric framework that enhances the active surface sites accessibility and promotes efficient charge transfer. The prepared catalyst exhibited excellent performance, yielding a hydrogen production rate of 2181.8 ml min −1 g −1 via NaBH 4 hydrolysis at room temperature, a performance comparable to many noble-metal benchmarks. In addition, the nanorods exhibited rapid environmental remediation capabilities, achieving the pseudo-first order degradation of 4-nitrophenol in 75 s and methylene blue within 25 min. This improved catalytic performance may be attributed to the synergistic electronic coupling between Ni and B species, which lowers the activation energy and enhances structural stability. By harnessing the 1D nanorod framework's, morphological advantages, this work offers a scalable and robust solution for integrated energy conversion and pollutant mitigation.