Unusual activity of rationally designed cobalt phosphide/oxide heterostructure composite for hydrogen production in alkaline medium.

Alsabban, Merfat M.; Eswaran, Mathan Kumar; Peramaiah, Karthik; Wahyudi, Wandi; Yang, Xiulin; Ramalingam, Vinoth; Hedhili, Mohamed N.; Miao, Xiaohe; Schwingenschlögl, Udo; Li, Lain-Jong; Tung, Vincent; Huang, Kuo-Wei

Abstract

Design and development of an efficient, nonprecious catalyst with structural features and functionality necessary for driving the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in an alkaline medium remain a formidable challenge. At the root of the functional limitation is the inability to tune the active catalytic sites while overcoming the poor reaction kinetics observed under basic conditions. Herein, we report a facile approach to enable the selective design of an electrochemically efficient cobalt phosphide oxide composite catalyst on carbon cloth (CoP-CoxOy/CC), with good activity and durability toward HER in alkaline medium (η10= -43 mV). Theoretical studies revealed that the redistribution of electrons at laterally dispersed Co phosphide/oxide interfaces gives rise to a synergistic effect in the heterostructured composite, by which various Co oxide phases initiate the dissociation of the alkaline water molecule. Meanwhile, the highly active CoP further facilitates the adsorption-desorption process of water electrolysis, leading to extremely high HER activity.

Citation

ALSABBAN, M.M., ESWARAN, M.K., PERAMAIAH, K., WAHYUDI, W., YANG, X., RAMALINGAM, V., HEDHILI, M.N., MIAO, X., SCHWINGENSCHLÖGL, U., LI, L.-J., TUNG, V. and HUANG, K.-W. 2022. Unusual activity of rationally designed cobalt phosphide/oxide heterostructure composite for hydrogen production in alkaline medium. ACS nano [online], 16(3), pages 3906-3916. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c09254

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 25, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Mar 7, 2022
• Publication Date: Mar 22, 2022
• Deposit Date: Oct 24, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 31, 2023
• Journal: ACS nano
• Print ISSN: 1936-0851
• Electronic ISSN: 1936-086X
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 3906-3916
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c09254
• Keywords: Cobalt phosphide; Cobalt mixed oxides; Electrochemical catalyst; Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER); Phosphatization
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2120371
• Additional Information: This article has been published with separate supporting information. This supporting information has been incorporated into a single file on this repository and can be found at the end of the file associated with this output.