Phosphorus-Doped 3D RuCo Nanowire Arrays on Nickel Foam with Enhanced Electrocatalytic Activity for Overall Water Splitting

Yaqi Yang; Qiaoyun Liu; Haiyang Wang; Hao Wen; Zhikun Peng; Kun Xiang; Caiyan Gao; Xianli Wu; Baojun Li; Zhongyi Liu

doi:10.1021/acsomega.1c00579

Phosphorus-Doped 3D RuCo Nanowire Arrays on Nickel Foam with Enhanced Electrocatalytic Activity for Overall Water Splitting

ACS Omega. 2021 Apr 6;6(15):10234-10241. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.1c00579. eCollection 2021 Apr 20.

Authors

Yaqi Yang¹, Qiaoyun Liu¹, Haiyang Wang¹, Hao Wen¹, Zhikun Peng², Kun Xiang³, Caiyan Gao⁴, Xianli Wu¹, Baojun Li¹, Zhongyi Liu¹

Affiliations

¹ Research Center of Green Catalysis, College of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, P.R. China.
² Henan Institute of Advance Technology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450003, P.R. China.
³ College of Materials, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518000, P.R. China.
⁴ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P.R. China.

Abstract

It is especially significant to design and construct high-performance and stable three-dimensional (3D) bifunctional nanoarchitecture electrocatalysts toward overall water splitting. Herein, we have constructed 3D self-supported phosphorus-doped ruthenium-cobalt nanowires on nickel foams (RuCoP/NF) via a simple hydrothermal reaction followed by a low-temperature phosphating reaction. Doping P can not merely enhance the intrinsic activity of electrocatalysts for overall water splitting but at the same time increase electrochemical surface areas (ECSAs) to expose more accessible active sites. As a 3D bifunctional catalyst, RuCoP/NF demonstrates superior performance for HER (44 mV@10 mA cm^-2) and OER (379 mV@50 mA cm^-2) in 1.0 M KOH electrolyte solution. The overall water-splitting system was assembled using RuCoP/NF as both anode and cathode. Besides, it exhibits a voltage of 1.533 V at a current density of 10 mA cm^-2 and long-term durability within 24 h. P-dopant changes the electron structure of Ru and Co, which is conducive to the formation of Ru^δ- and Co^δ+, resulting in the adjustment of binding H*/OH* and the improvement of the overall water-splitting reaction kinetics. This work provides a facile method to produce heteroatom-doped and high-performance catalysts for efficient overall water splitting.