Issue 26, 2016

Ternary metal phosphide nanosheets as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for water reduction to hydrogen over a wide pH range from 0 to 14

Abstract

Developing highly active electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is crucial to construct an efficient water-splitting device. In this present study, a novel ternary cobalt–nickel phosphide nanosheet with nanowire edges on 3D nickel foam (CoNiP@NF) was first synthesized and used as an excellent cathode for the HER over a wide pH range from 0 to 14. The cathode showed high-performance catalytic activity to produce hydrogen in aqueous solution, with quite low overpotentials of only 60 mV (0.5 M H2SO4, pH ∼ 0.26), 120 mV (1.0 M KPi, pH ∼ 7), and 155 mV (1.0 M KOH, pH ∼ 14) to reach a current density of 10 mA cm−2. This high performance is probably due to the combination of the advantages of both one-dimensional nanowire and two-dimensional nanosheet materials, which can effectively improve the electrochemical performance for the HER. To the best of our knowledge, the present ternary CoNiP material is among the best noble-metal-free electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution in water.

Graphical abstract: Ternary metal phosphide nanosheets as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for water reduction to hydrogen over a wide pH range from 0 to 14

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Mar 2016
Accepted
28 May 2016
First published
01 Jun 2016

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016,4, 10195-10202

Ternary metal phosphide nanosheets as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for water reduction to hydrogen over a wide pH range from 0 to 14

A. Han, H. Chen, H. Zhang, Z. Sun and P. Du, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016, 4, 10195 DOI: 10.1039/C6TA02297A

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