Three-dimensional reduced graphene oxide decorated with cobalt metaphosphate as high cost-efficiency electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Zijie Tang; Shenqi Wei; Yuanyuan Wang; Liyi Dai

doi:10.1039/d2ra01271e

Three-dimensional reduced graphene oxide decorated with cobalt metaphosphate as high cost-efficiency electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction

RSC Adv. 2022 Apr 5;12(17):10522-10533. doi: 10.1039/d2ra01271e. eCollection 2022 Mar 31.

Authors

Zijie Tang^{1

2}, Shenqi Wei^{1

2}, Yuanyuan Wang^{1

2}, Liyi Dai^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University No. 500 Dongchuan Road Shanghai 200241 P. R. China ecnu_yywang@163.com.
² Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, East China Normal University Shanghai 200062 P. R. China.

Abstract

The development of cost-effective non-noble metal electrocatalysts is critical for the research of renewable energy. Transition metal cobalt metaphosphate-based materials have the potential to replace the noble metal Pt. Hence, in this work, we synthesize three-dimensional graphene-supported cobalt metaphosphate (Co(PO₃)₂-3D RGO) for the first time through the one-step hydrothermal synthesis method at low temperature with the aid of PH₃ phosphating. In a 0.5 mol L^-1 H₂SO₄ solution, the obtained electrocatalyst exhibits excellent electrochemical activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with a small overpotential of 176 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm^-2 and a Tafel slope of 63 mV dec^-1. Additionally, in a 1 mol L^-1 KOH solution, the electrocatalyst also shows outstanding HER activity with a small overpotential of 158 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm^-2 and a Tafel slope of 88 mV dec^-1. Co(PO₃)₂-3D RGO can maintain its catalytic activity for at least ten hours whether in acid or alkali. This work not only demonstrates an excellent electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction, but also provides an extremely convenient preparation technology, which provides a new strategy for the development and utilization of high-performance electrocatalysts.