Fast galvanic exchange of Ni with Rh, using concentrated acidic Rh solution, leads to tremendous HER activity improvements in alkaline media. In the case of a smooth Ni-poly surface, HER activity surpasses Pt-poly for Rh exchange times of 30 seconds. Our results suggest that there is no significant change in the surface roughness of Rh-exchanged electrodes, and when surface-specific activities of Rh-exchanged smooth Ni-poly are compared to that of Pt-poly, the HER activity of the modified Ni-poly (30 s of exchange) is roughly 2.5 times higher than the activity of Pt-poly. DFT calculations suggest that Rh-modified Ni surface interacts weaker with H ads , making the formation of