In recent years, the exploration of efficient and stable noble-metal-free electrocatalysts is becoming increasingly important, used mainly for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this work, a new ultrathin porous Cu1-xNixS/NF nano-sheets array was constructed on the 3D nickel skeleton by two-step method: hydrothermal method and vulcanization method. Through these two processes, Cu1-xNixS/NF has a larger specific surface area than that of foamed nickel (NF) and Cu1-xNixO/NF. The Cu1-xNixS/NF materials show excellent catalytic activity by accelerating the electron transfer rate and increase the amount of H-2 and O-2 produced. The lower overpotential was obtained only 350 mV at 20 mA cm(-2) for OER, not only that, but also the same phenomenon is pointed out in HER, optimal Cu1-xNixS/NF presents low overpotentials of 189 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA cm(-2) in 1.0 M KOH for HER. Both OER and HER shows a lower Tafel slope: 51.2 mV dec(-1) and 127.2 mV dec(-1), subsequently, the overall water splitting activity of Cu1-xNixS/NF was investigated, and the low cell voltage was 1.64 V (current density 10 mA cm(-2)). It can be stable for 14 h during the overall water splitting reaction. These results fully demonstrate that Cu1-xNixS/NF non-precious metal materials can be invoked become one of the effective catalysts for overall water splitting, providing a richer resource for energy storage. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.