Few-layer black phosphorus and boron-doped graphene based heteroelectrocatalyst for enhanced hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Research interest in two-dimensional (2D) materials has grown exponentially across various fields over the past few years. In particular, 2D phosphorene, the single- or few-layered analogue of semiconducting black phosphorus (BP), holds specific promise for advanced catalysis reactions including electrocatalytic hydrogen (H₂) production. However, bare phosphorene nanosheets suffer from poor electrical conductivity, limited catalytic sites and instability under ambient conditions. Herein, we integrate ultrathin few-layer BP (FL-BP) nanosheets with boron-doped graphene (BG) to form a novel metal-free 2D/2D heteroelectrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acidic media. Our newly designed electrocatalyst (FL-BP@BG) shows remarkably enhanced HER activity with a low overpotential of 385.9 mV at 10 mA cm⁻², while exhibiting a low charge transfer resistance of only 5.5 Ω in H₂SO₄ electrolyte. In addition, the FL-BP@BG catalyst shows an outstanding stability over 500 continuous cycles, demonstrating that hybridizing FL-BP with BG is an efficient strategy to construct stable BP based electrocatalyst. This work paves the way for emerging 2D materials for advanced catalysis systems.