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Noble-metal-free catalyst with enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction activity based on granulated Co-doped Ni-Mo phosphide nanorod arrays

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Abstract

The development of noble-metal-free electrocatalysts for water splitting is indispensable for the efficient production of hydrogen fuel. Herein, a Co-doped Ni-Mo phosphide nanorod arrays fabricated on porous Ni foam was shown to be an efficient binder-free electrocatalyst for water splitting. This catalyst featured exceptional activity, exhibiting an overpotential of 29 mV at a current density of 10 mA·cm−2 for the hydrogen evolution reaction, whereas the corresponding precatalyst exhibited an overpotential of 314 mV at a current density of 50 mA·cm−2 for the oxygen evolution reaction. The achieved electrocatalytic performance provided access to a simple water splitting system, affording a current density of 10 mA·cm−2 at 1.47 V in 1 M KOH electrolyte. Density functional theory results indicated that Co doping and phosphorization were responsible for the high electrocatalytic performance. Thus, this work paves the way for the development of novel noble-metal-free electrocatalysts for practical H2 production via water splitting.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51827901). We would like to thank the Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology, Sichuan University, for XRD analysis work. We also thank Clean Energy Research Institute for the support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Heping Xie, Cheng Lan & Tao Liu

  2. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Deep Earth Sciences and Geothermal Energy Exploitation and Utilization, Institute of Deep Earth Sciences and Green Energy, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China

    Heping Xie, Cheng Lan, Bin Chen & Fuhuan Wang

  3. School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Fuhuan Wang

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  1. Heping Xie
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Noble-metal-free catalyst with enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction activity based on granulated Co-doped Ni-Mo phosphide nanorod arrays

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Xie, H., Lan, C., Chen, B. et al. Noble-metal-free catalyst with enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction activity based on granulated Co-doped Ni-Mo phosphide nanorod arrays. Nano Res. 13, 3321–3329 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-3010-7

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