Issue 27, 2019

Scalable synthesis of self-assembled bimetallic phosphide/N-doped graphene nanoflakes as an efficient electrocatalyst for overall water splitting

Abstract

In order to achieve clean hydrogen energy through overall water splitting, it is vitally important but still challenging to develop highly efficient and low-cost electrocatalysts to replace the noble metal-based electrocatalysts (e.g. Pt- and Ru-based catalysts). To address this issue, herein, we present a facile and scalable spray drying and subsequent phosphorization approach to synthesize iron–cobalt bimetallic nanoflakes encapsulated in N-doped graphene (FCP@NG). The optimized FCP@NG exhibits excellent performance in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and overall water splitting. It demonstrates remarkable performance in the HER and superior activity in the OER, even outperforming the state-of-the-art RuO2 catalyst. Being employed as both the cathode and anode on nickel foams, this FCP@NG hybrid demonstrates promising performance in overall water splitting with a very low potential of 1.63 V to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm−2, which is superior among most of the recently reported transition-metal-based catalysts and comparable to the commercial Pt/RuO2 cell. The outstanding electrocatalytic performance of FCP@NG is attributed to a synergistic effect of its bi-metallization, unique nanoflake structure and conductive N-doped graphene encapsulation. This work provides a scalable and low-cost strategy to synthesize nonprecious and bi-functional transition-metal-based catalysts with unique nanoarchitecture and outstanding catalytic performance for overall water splitting.

Graphical abstract: Scalable synthesis of self-assembled bimetallic phosphide/N-doped graphene nanoflakes as an efficient electrocatalyst for overall water splitting

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 अप्रैल 2019
Accepted
03 जून 2019
First published
04 जून 2019

Nanoscale, 2019,11, 12837-12845

Scalable synthesis of self-assembled bimetallic phosphide/N-doped graphene nanoflakes as an efficient electrocatalyst for overall water splitting

D. Yang, W. Hou, Y. Lu, W. Zhang and Y. Chen, Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 12837 DOI: 10.1039/C9NR03614H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements