Three-dimensional carbon network-supported black phosphorus-cobalt heterojunctions: An efficient electrocatalyst for high-rate oxygen evolution

Di Han; Gaohui Du; Yunting Wang; Lina Jia; Shixian Chen; Wenqi Zhao; Qingmei Su; Shukai Ding; Miao Zhang; Bingshe Xu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.008

Three-dimensional carbon network-supported black phosphorus-cobalt heterojunctions: An efficient electrocatalyst for high-rate oxygen evolution

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Dec:651:415-423. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.008. Epub 2023 Aug 3.

Authors

Di Han¹, Gaohui Du², Yunting Wang¹, Lina Jia¹, Shixian Chen¹, Wenqi Zhao¹, Qingmei Su³, Shukai Ding¹, Miao Zhang¹, Bingshe Xu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Materials Institute of Atomic and Molecular Science, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi'an 710021, China.
² Materials Institute of Atomic and Molecular Science, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi'an 710021, China; Shanxi-Zheda Institute of Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan 030000, China. Electronic address: dugaohui@sust.edu.cn.
³ Materials Institute of Atomic and Molecular Science, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi'an 710021, China. Electronic address: suqingmei@sust.edu.cn.
⁴ Materials Institute of Atomic and Molecular Science, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi'an 710021, China; Shanxi-Zheda Institute of Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan 030000, China; Key Laboratory of Interface Science and Engineering in Advanced Materials, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China. Electronic address: xubingshe@sust.edu.cn.

PMID: 37549526
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.008

Abstract

Black phosphorus (BP), as a burgeoning two-dimensional material, has shown good electrocatalytic activity due to its unique electronic structure and abundant active sites.However, the presence of lone pair electrons in black phosphorus leads to its poor stability and rapid degradation in an oxygen/water environment, which greatly limits its practical application. Herein, BP-Co heterojunctions were synthesized on carbon nanotube@nitrogen-doped carbon (BP-Co/CNT@NC) by the pyrolysis of ZnCo-zeolitic imidazolate frameworks and subsequent solvothermal treatment. The BP-Co Schottky junction improved the electrocatalytic stability of BP, modulated its electronic structure, improved its conductivity and electron transfer during the electrocatalytic reaction. Density functional theory calculation was used to confirm the electron transfer and redistribution at the interface between BP and Co, which constructed an oppositely charged region and formed a strong built-in field. Energy band configuration analysis revealed a narrowed band gap because of the formation of BP-Co Schottky junction. Consequently, the optimized BP-Co/CNT@NC exhibited a superior oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance, a low overpotential of 370 mV@100 mA/cm², with a small Tafel slope of 40 mV/dec and good long-term stability. Particularly, the catalyst has an excellent OER performance at the high current density of 100-400 mA/cm². This strategy improves the stability of BP electrocatalysts and strengthens their utilization in electrocatalytic applications.

Keywords: Electrolysis; Heterojunction; Nanostructure; Oxygen evolution reaction; Transition metal.