Searching for inexpensive,efficient and durable electrocatalysts with earth-abundant elements toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is of vital importance for the future sustainable hydrogen economy,yet still remains a formidable challenge.Herein,a facile template-engaged strategy is demonstrated for the direct in-situ growth of Ni nanoparticles and N-doped carbon nanotubes on carbon nanorod substrates,forming a hierarchically branched architecture (abbreviated as Ni@N-C NT/NRs hereafter).The elaborate construction of such unique hierarchical structure with tightly encapsulated Ni nanoparticles and open configuration endows the as-fabricated Ni@N-C NT/NRs with abundant well-dispersed active sites,enlarged surface area,reduced resistances of charge transfer and mass diffusion,and reinforced mechanical robustness.As a consequence,the optimal Ni@N-C NT/NR catalyst demonstrates superior electrocatalytic activity with relatively low overpotential of 134 mV to deliver a current density of 10 mA·cm-2 and excellent stability for HER in 0.1 M KOH,holding a great promise for practical scalable H2 production.More importantly,this work offers a reliable methodology for feasible fabrication of robust high-performance carbon-based hierarchical architectures for a variety of electrochemical applications.