Issue 26, 2021

Flower-like tungsten-doped Fe–Co phosphides as efficient electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

Developing cost-effective and high-performance electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is imperative thanks to the rapid increase of fuel-cell driven vehicles. Tungsten (W) possesses advantages of optimized hydrogen adsorption energy and improved water adsorption ability, thus we introduce W into Fe–Co bimetallic phosphides by in situ growing W–FeCo hydroxides on nickel foam (NF) via a hydrothermal procedure followed by phosphorization. The as-prepared W–FeCoP/NF catalyst shows a three-dimensional (3D) flower-like morphology, which can facilitate charge transfer and mass transportation. When the molar ratio of W : Fe : Co is 1 : 4 : 8, the catalyst exhibits excellent HER activity with an overpotential of 66 mV at 10 mA cm−2, a Tafel slope of 83 mV dec−1, an electrochemical surface area of 70 mF cm−2, and a Rct of 0.3 Ω in 1.0 M KOH solution. Its performance is much better than that of FeCoP/NF, FeP/NF, or CoP/NF. Meanwhile, the W–FeCoP/NF electrode demonstrates prominent HER catalytic activity at a current density of 800 mA cm−2, and it also exhibits better stability than the FeCoP/NF electrode. The excellent performance can be ascribed to the W–FeCoP/NF electrode with efficient W-doping and unique 3D flower-like structure. This work will provide a strategy to explore a new class of transition metal phosphides with prominent catalytic activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction.

Graphical abstract: Flower-like tungsten-doped Fe–Co phosphides as efficient electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
31 3 2021
Accepted
02 6 2021
First published
02 6 2021

CrystEngComm, 2021,23, 4724-4731

Flower-like tungsten-doped Fe–Co phosphides as efficient electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Q. Zhang, S. Tang, L. Shen, W. Yang, Z. Tang and L. Yu, CrystEngComm, 2021, 23, 4724 DOI: 10.1039/D1CE00426C

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