Beyond Platinum: Defects Abundant CoP3/Ni2P Heterostructure for Hydrogen Evolution Electrocatalysis
Lijie Zhang,
Linzhou Zhuang,
Hongli Liu,
Longzhou Zhang,
Rongsheng Cai,
Ning Chen,
Xianfeng Yang,
Zhonghua Zhu,
Dongjiang Yang,
Xiangdong Yao
Affiliations
Lijie Zhang
School of Environmental Science and Engineering State Key Laboratory of Bio-fibers and Eco-textiles Collaborative Innovation Center of Marine Biobased Fibers and Ecological Textiles Institute of Marine Biobased Materials Qingdao University Qingdao 266071 P. R. China
Linzhou Zhuang
School of Chemical Engineering The University of Queensland Brisbane 4072 Australia
Hongli Liu
School of Environmental Science and Engineering State Key Laboratory of Bio-fibers and Eco-textiles Collaborative Innovation Center of Marine Biobased Fibers and Ecological Textiles Institute of Marine Biobased Materials Qingdao University Qingdao 266071 P. R. China
Longzhou Zhang
School of Materials Science and Engineering Yunnan Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Materials and Technology Yunnan University Kunming Yunnan 650091 P. R. China
Rongsheng Cai
Nanoscale Physics Research Laboratory School of Physics and Astronomy University of Birmingham Birmingham B15 2TT UK
Ning Chen
Hard X‐ray MicroAnalysis Beamline Facility Canadian Light Source Saskatoon S7N 0X4 Canada
Xianfeng Yang
Analytical and Testing Centre South China University of Technology Guangzhou 510640 P. R. China
Zhonghua Zhu
School of Chemical Engineering The University of Queensland Brisbane 4072 Australia
Dongjiang Yang
School of Environmental Science and Engineering State Key Laboratory of Bio-fibers and Eco-textiles Collaborative Innovation Center of Marine Biobased Fibers and Ecological Textiles Institute of Marine Biobased Materials Qingdao University Qingdao 266071 P. R. China
Xiangdong Yao
Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre and School of Natural Sciences Griffith University Nathan Brisbane QLD 4111 Australia
Water electrolysis is a promising option for pure hydrogen production, but it is limited by the high cost. Developing superb and low‐cost electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is critical for cost reduction. Heterostructures are demonstrated with excellent HER activities, but still inferior to commercial Pt/C. Herein, vacancy type of defects is engineered into the interface of CoP3/Ni2P heterostructure by a plasma strategy. The as‐synthesized defective CoP3/Ni2P exhibits lower overpotentials than Pt/C. Its specific activity at overpotential of 50 mV is ≈2‐fold and 1.7‐fold higher than that of Pt/C in acidic and alkaline media, respectively. For water electrocatalysis, its current density reaches 215 mA cm−2 at 2.0 V, even satisfying the target of practical industrial water splitting. Theoretical calculations indicate that the interfacial defects reconstruct the electronic structure and accelerate the charge transfer, facilitating the adsorption of reactant and lowering the energy barrier of water dissociation, thereby improving HER activities.
