Construction of Fe-doped CoP with hybrid nanostructures as a bifunctional catalyst for overall water splitting

Qinghua Yang; Haojiang Dai; Wenhao Liao; Xianfeng Tong; Yingyan Fu; Min Qian; Tianyun Chen

doi:10.1039/d1dt03292e

Construction of Fe-doped CoP with hybrid nanostructures as a bifunctional catalyst for overall water splitting

Dalton Trans. 2021 Dec 14;50(48):18069-18076. doi: 10.1039/d1dt03292e.

Authors

Qinghua Yang¹, Haojiang Dai², Wenhao Liao², Xianfeng Tong², Yingyan Fu², Min Qian², Tianyun Chen²

Affiliations

¹ School of Food and Biological Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, Anhui 230009, P. R. China.
² School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, Anhui 230009, P. R. China.

PMID: 34846399
DOI: 10.1039/d1dt03292e

Abstract

Due to their open skeleton structures, adjustable active sites and homogeneous catalytic centers, PBA-based materials have promising applications in electrochemical water splitting. Herein, we report a PBA derived Fe_0.25-CoP electrocatalyst with a hybrid nanostructure, which offered a large specific surface area and active sites for the HER and OER, respectively. The as-synthesized Fe_0.25-CoP catalyst exhibits remarkable catalytic performance and durability at overpotentials of 262 mV for the OER and 111 mV for the HER, requiring a voltage of merely 1.57 V to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm^-2 for the electrocatalytic water splitting process. The preeminent activity of Fe_0.25-CoP was mainly ascribed to the framework structures of Co-PBA and appropriate doping of Fe³⁺ which regulated the electronic structures and morphology of Fe_0.25-CoP. In addition, the partial phosphating strategy retained the active centers for the OER in Co-PBA, which were further enhanced by the catalysis of Fe³⁺. In short, the rational design and regulation of catalyst structures and compositions is a promising approach for the development of highly efficient water splitting catalysts.