Electronic Structure Regulated Nickel-Cobalt Bimetal Phosphide Nanoneedles for Efficient Overall Water Splitting

oleh: Heyang Xu, Xilin She, Haolin Li, Chuanhui Wang, Shuai Chen, Lipeng Diao, Ping Lu, Longwei Li, Liwen Tan, Jin Sun, Yihui Zou

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2024-01-01

Deskripsi

Transition metal phosphides (TMPs) have been widely studied for water decomposition for their monocatalytic property for anodic or cathodic reactions. However, their bifunctional catalytic activity still remains a major challenge. Herein, hexagonal nickel-cobalt bimetallic phosphide nanoneedles with 1–3 μm length and 15–30 nm diameter supported on NF (Ni<sub>x</sub>Co<sub>2−x</sub>P NDs/NF) with adjusted electron structure have been successfully prepared. The overall alkaline water electrolyzer composed of the optimal anode (Ni<sub>0.67</sub>Co<sub>1.33</sub>P NDs/NF) and cathode (Ni<sub>1.01</sub>Co<sub>0.99</sub>P NDs/NF) provide 100 mA cm<sup>−2</sup> at 1.62 V. Gibbs Free Energy for reaction paths proves that the active site in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is Ni and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is Co in Ni<sub>x</sub>Co<sub>2−x</sub>P, respectively. In the HER process, Co-doping can result in an apparent accumulation of charge around Ni active sites in favor of promoting HER activity of Ni sites, and ΔG<sub>H*</sub> of 0.19 eV is achieved. In the OER process, the abundant electron transfer around Co-active sites results in the excellent ability to adsorb and desorb *O and *OOH intermediates and an effectively reduced ∆G<sub>RDS</sub> of 0.37 eV. This research explains the regulation of electronic structure change on the active sites of bimetallic materials and provides an effective way to design a stable and effective electrocatalytic decomposition of alkaline water.