At present, there is an urgent need for plentiful non-noble metal catalyst to substitute for valuableness platinum based metal catalyst in electrochemical water splitting. Here, we fabricated a three-demensional (3D) Ni-Co-NiCo2O4 nanosheets electrocatalyst that directly grew on Ni foam firstly and then were reduced in 0.1 mol dm(-3) sodium borohydride solution. This electrode exhibited high activity in 1.0 mol dm(-3) KOH solution with an onset potential of similar to 40 mV and a tafel slope of 77 mV dec(-1). Furthermore, the Ni-Co-NiCo2O4/NF electrode showed a splendid durability during long-playing electrochemical test. Our work may provide an inexpensive, easy-to-obtain and excellent catalyst candidate for future electrolytic water research and industry studies that may involve hydrogen applications in the future. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.