Polyaniline Derived N-Doped Carbon-Coated Cobalt Phosphide Nanoparticles Deposited on N-Doped Graphene as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Jingwen Ma; Min Wang; Guangyu Lei; Guoliang Zhang; Fengbao Zhang; Wenchao Peng; Xiaobin Fan; Yang Li

doi:10.1002/smll.201702895

Polyaniline Derived N-Doped Carbon-Coated Cobalt Phosphide Nanoparticles Deposited on N-Doped Graphene as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Small. 2018 Jan;14(2). doi: 10.1002/smll.201702895. Epub 2017 Nov 17.

Authors

Jingwen Ma¹, Min Wang¹, Guangyu Lei¹, Guoliang Zhang¹, Fengbao Zhang¹, Wenchao Peng¹, Xiaobin Fan¹, Yang Li¹

Affiliation

¹ Lab of Advanced Nano Structures & Transfer Processes, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300354, P. R. China.

PMID: 29149471
DOI: 10.1002/smll.201702895

Abstract

The development of highly efficient and durable non-noble metal electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is significant for clean and renewable energy research. This work reports the synthesis of N-doped graphene nanosheets supported N-doped carbon coated cobalt phosphide (CoP) nanoparticles via a pyrolysis and a subsequent phosphating process by using polyaniline. The obtained electrocatalyst exhibits excellent electrochemical activity for HER with a small overpotential of -135 mV at 10 mA cm^-2 and a low Tafel slope of 59.3 mV dec^-1 in 0.5 m H₂ SO₄ . Additionally, the encapsulation of N-doped carbon shell prevents CoP nanoparticles from corrosion, exhibiting good stability after 14 h operation. Moreover, the as-prepared electrocatalyst also shows outstanding activity and stability in basic and neutral electrolytes.

Keywords: N-doped carbon shell; N-doped graphene; cobalt phosphide; hydrogen evolution reaction; polyaniline.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't