The development of economical, proficient, and highly stable catalysts to substitute the expensive noble metal electrodes for electrocatalytic water-splitting applications is exceedingly desirable. In this context, the most fascinating and challenging approach is the rational design of a nanocomposite encompassing multiple components with unique functionalities. Herein, we describe the fabrication of a strongly catalytic and superb durable phosphorus-incorporated cobalt molybdenum sulfide electrocatalyst grown on carbon cloth (P-CoMoS/CC). The hybrid material exhibited excellent activity for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions over a wide range of pH (1-14) with extremely high stability (∼90% retention of the initial current density) after 24 h of electrolysis. Importantly, when P-CoMoS/CC was used as both cathode and anode for overall water splitting, a very low cell voltage of 1.54 V is required to attain the 10 mA cm-2 current density, and the hybrid material exhibited a long-term stability (89.8% activity retention after 100 h). The outstanding overall water-splitting performance compared to an electrolyzer consisting of the noble-metal-based catalysts Pt/C and RuO2 makes P-CoMoS one of the most efficient earth-abundant water-splitting catalysts. Phosphorus incorporation was proved to be a vital aspect for the improved charge-transfer properties and catalytic durability of the P-CoMoS/CC catalyst.
Keywords: all pH values; anion incorporation; electrocatalysis; stability; water splitting.