Cobalt-molybdenum bimetallic phosphide grown in situ on nickel foam as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for efficient water splitting

Abstract

Abstract Designing low-cost, efficient and stable non-precious metal catalysts for overall water splitting is a necessary and urgent task. In this paper, Co-Mo-P nanopillar array catalysts were successfully prepared on three-dimensional nickel foam (Co-Mo-P/NF) by hydrothermal and phosphorylation methods for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The vertically aligned nanopillar structure provides a relatively high specific surface area, which can provide an abundance of active sites and facilitate the penetration of the electrolyte and increase the electron transfer rate. Electrochemical tests have shown that Co-Mo-P/NF exhibits excellent performance and stability in HER and OER reactions. For HER, the overpotential of the catalyst was 37 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm− 2 in 1M KOH and 258 mV for OER. In addition, the Co-Mo-P/NF exhibits outstanding electrochemical performance with a cell voltage as low as 1.58 V to obtain 10 mA cm− 2.