Novel CoP Hollow Prisms as Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Acid media and Overall Water-splitting in Basic media

By Liu, Yan-Ru; Hu, Wen-Hui; Han, Guan-Qun; Dong, Bin; Li, Xiao; Shang, Xiao; Chai, Yong-Ming; Liu, Yun-Qi; Liu, Chen-Guang
Published in Electrochimica Acta NULL 2016

Abstract

Abstract Cobalt phosphide (CoP) with hollow prisms nanostructure has been successfully synthesized via a facile two-step micro-assisted method. Firstly, uniform Co3(CH3COO)5(OH) cubes are prepared by microwave method. Then as-prepared Co3(CH3COO)5(OH) cubes as precursors have been conducted by phosphorization at low temperature. Novel CoP hollow prisms with 1 ?m length, 500 nm width and 500 nm height have been synthesized. The obtained CoP hollow prisms can be used as both an efficient electrocatalyst for {HER} in acid media (0.5 M {H2SO4} solution) and a remarkable bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water-splitting in alkaline media (1.0 M {KOH} solution) which might be attributed to their high surface area, porosity and good distribution. The {OER} mechanisms of CoP in alkaline solution have been investigated through {XPS} and {SEM} Mapping, which demonstrate that the amorphous oxygen-containing nanostructure on the surface of CoP may be the real catalytic active species. In addition, phosphidation of uniform cobalt salt hydrates precursor with specific structure at low temperature is a newfangled and effective strategy to synthesis bifunctional electrocatalyst CoP.

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