Recent Advances in Multimetal and Doped Transition-Metal Phosphides for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction at Different pH values

Colodrero RM, Demadis KD. Exploiting the Multifunctionality of M2+/Imidazole-Etidronates for Proton Conductivity (Zn2+) and Electrocatalysis (Co2+, Ni2+) toward the HER, OER, and ORR

This work deals with the synthesis and characterization of one-dimensional (1D) imidazole-containing etidronates, [M2(ETID)(Im)3]·nH2O (M = Co2+ and Ni2+; n = 0, 1, 3) and [Zn2(ETID)2(H2O)2](Im)2, as well as the corresponding Co2+/Ni2+ solid solutions, to evaluate their properties as multipurpose materials for energy conversion processes. Depending on the water content, metal ions in the isostructural Co2+ and Ni2+ derivatives are octahedrally coordinated (n = 3) or consist of octahedral together with dimeric trigonal bipyramidal (n = 1) or square pyramidal (n = 0) environments. The imidazole molecule acts as a ligand (Co2+, Ni2+ derivatives) or charge-compensating protonated species (Zn2+ derivative). For the latter, the proton conductivity is determined to be ∼6 × 10-4 S·cm-1 at 80 °C and 95% relative humidity (RH). By pyrolyzing in 5%H2-Ar at 700-850 °C, core-shell electrocatalysts consisting of Co2+-, Ni2+-phosphides or Co2+/Ni2+-phosphide solid solution particles embedded in a N-doped carbon graphitic matrix are obtained, which exhibit improved catalytic performances compared to the non-N-doped carbon materials. Co2+ phosphides consist of CoP and Co2P in variable proportions according to the used precursor and pyrolytic conditions. However, the Ni2+ phosphide is composed of Ni2P exclusively at high temperatures. Exploration of the electrochemical activity of these metal phosphides toward the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) reveals that the anhydrous Co2(ETID)(Im)3 pyrolyzed at 800 °C (CoP/Co2P = 80/20 wt %) is the most active trifunctional electrocatalyst, with good integrated capabilities as an anode for overall water splitting (cell voltage of 1.61 V) and potential application in Zn-air batteries. This solid also displays a moderate activity for the HER with an overpotential of 156 mV and a Tafel slope of 79.7 mV·dec-1 in 0.5 M H2SO4. Ni2+- and Co2+/Ni2+-phosphide solid solutions show lower electrochemical performances, which are correlated with the formation of less active crystalline phases.

Nanoscale Heterogeneities of Non-Noble Iron-Based Metallic Glasses toward Efficient Water Oxidation at Industrial-Level Current Densities

Scaling up the production of cost-effective electrocatalysts for efficient water splitting at the industrial level is critically important to achieve carbon neutrality in our society. While noble-metal-based materials represent a high-performance benchmark with superb activities for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions, their high cost, poor scalability, and scarcity are major impediments to achieve widespread commercialization. Herein, a flexible freestanding Fe-based metallic glass (MG) with an atomic composition of Fe₅₀Ni₃₀P₁₃C₇ was prepared by a large-scale metallurgical technique that can be employed directly as a bifunctional electrode for water splitting. The surface hydroxylation process created unique structural and chemical heterogeneities in the presence of amorphous FeOOH and Ni₂P as well as nanocrystalline Ni₂P that offered various active sites to optimize each rate-determining step for water oxidation. The achieved overpotentials for the oxygen evolution reaction were 327 and 382 mV at high current densities of 100 and 500 mA cm^-2 in alkaline media, respectively, and a cell voltage of 1.59 V was obtained when using the MG as both the anode and the cathode for overall water splitting at a current density of 10 mA cm^-2. Theoretical calculations unveiled that amorphous FeOOH makes a significant contribution to water molecule adsorption and oxygen evolution processes, while the amorphous and nanocrystalline Ni₂P stabilize the free energy of hydrogen protons (ΔG_H*) in the hydrogen evolution process. This MG alloy design concept is expected to stimulate the discovery of many more high-performance catalytic materials that can be produced at an industrial scale with customized properties in the near future.

Janus MoPC Monolayer with Superior Electrocatalytic Performance for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Designing the earth's abundant and high-performance electrocatalysts, which possess high stability, excellent electrical conductivity, inherent active sites, and catalytic activity identical with Pt, is challenging but crucial for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). By first-principles structure search simulations, we identify a new two-dimensional (2D) MoPC material with the Janus structure as a promising catalyst. This novel 2D monolayer has superior stability and metallic conductivity. Especially, it exhibits a remarkable HER catalytic activity, where all of the constituent atoms, including Mo, P, and C, can uniformly act as active sites in view of the near-zero ΔG_H* value. Its active site density counts up to 1.46 × 10¹⁵ site/cm², larger than that of many reported materials and even comparable to Pt. The excellent HER catalytic activity can also be maintained at a very high H coverage with or without external strain. The MoPC monolayer can produce H₂ spontaneously through the favorable Volmer-Heyrovsky pathway. The detailed catalytic mechanism behind the high HER activity has been also analyzed. Our work provides a feasible action for the experimental synthesis of excellent HER catalysts.

Heterostructured CoP·CoMoP nanocages as advanced electrocatalysts for efficient hydrogen evolution over a wide pH range

A sustainable and environmental-friendly method to produce hydrogen with high purity is the electrochemical water splitting, but its commercialization is challenged due to lack of cost-effective electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) over a wide pH range. Herein, a series of CoP·xCoMoP heterostructured nanocages (NCs) were prepared via a dissolution-regrowth and subsequent phosphorization process using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as template. The three-dimensional (3D) architecture of CoP·xCoMoP is constituted by the heterostructured nanosheets composed with CoP and CoMoP phase. These noble-metal-free earth-abundant transition metal phosphide (TMP) catalysts show a pH-universal HER activity with high efficiency. Under the optimal atom ratio of Co and Mo (6:5), CoP·5CoMoP NC catalysts can deliver a current density of 10 mA cm^-2 at the overpotential of 72 mV with a Tafel slope of 60.3 mV dec^-1 in 1.0 M KOH solution. The same current output requires overpotential of 44 mV in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ solution and 151 mV in1.0 M phosphate buffered solution (PBS), respectively. The superior HER activity of CoP·5CoMoP NC catalysts can be comparable to or even better than most of noble metal-free HER electrocatalysts reported recently. In addition, CoP·5CoMoP NC catalysts also show a fairly high HER stability over a wide pH range, and their HER activity can be well kept without significant loss for long-term electrolysis. The 3D CoP·5CoMoP heterostructured catalysts hold promise as efficient and low-cost catalysts for water splitting devices over a wide pH range.

Synergistically Coupling P-doped Mo2C@N, P Dual-coped Carbon-nanoribbons as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Developing non-noble and high-performance electrocatalysts towards hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in both acidic and alkaline medium remains a stern challenge. Herein, the composite of P-doped Mo2C and hierarchically ultrathin N,...

Recent advances in cobalt-based catalysts for efficient electrochemical hydrogen evolution: a review

Hydrogen (H2) is a new type of renewable energy that can meet people's growing energy needs and is environmentally friendly. In order to improve the industrial application prospect and electrochemical...

Development of Ferromagnetic Materials Containing Co2P, Fe2P Phases from Organometallic Dendrimers Precursors

The development of synthesis methods to access advanced materials, such as magnetic materials that combine multimetallic phosphide phases, remains a worthy research challenge. The most widely used strategies for the synthesis of magnetic transition metal phosphides (TMPs) are organometallic approaches. In this study, Fe-containing homometallic dendrimers and Fe/Co-containing heterometallic dendrimers were used to synthesize magnetic materials containing multimetallic phosphide phases. The crystalline nature of the nearly aggregated particles was indicated for both designed magnetic samples. In contrast to heterometallic samples, homometallic samples showed dendritic effects on their magnetic properties. Specifically, saturation magnetization (M_s) and coercivity (H_c) decrease as dendritic generation increases. Incorporating cobalt into the homometallic dendrimers to prepare the heterometallic dendrimers markedly increases the magnetic properties of the magnetic materials from 60 to 75 emu/g. Ferromagnetism in homometallic and heterometallic particles shows different responses to temperature changes. For example, heterometallic samples were less sensitive to temperature changes due to the presence of Co₂P in contrast to the homometallic ones, which show an abrupt change in their slopes at a temperature close to 209 K, which appears to be related to the Fe₂P ratios. This study presents dendrimers as a new type of precursor for the assembly of magnetic materials containing a mixture of iron- and cobalt-phosphides phases with tunable magnetism, and provides an opportunity to understand magnetism in such materials.

Active Site Engineering in CoP@NC/Graphene Heterostructures Enabling Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution

As the core of an electrocatalyst, the active site is critical to determine its catalytic performance in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this work, porous N-doped carbon-encapsulated CoP nanoparticles on both sides of graphene (CoP@NC/GR) are derived from a bimetallic metal-organic framework (MOF)@graphene oxide composite. Through active site engineering by tailoring the environment around CoP and engineering the structure, the HER activity of CoP@NC/GR heterostructures is significantly enhanced. Both X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results and density functional theory (DFT) calculations manifest that the electronic structure of CoP can be modulated by the carbon matrix of NC/GR, resulting in electron redistribution and a reduction in the adsorption energy of hydrogen (ΔG_H*) from -0.53 to 0.04 eV. By engineering the sandwich-like structure, active sites in CoP@NC/GR are further increased by optimizing the Zn/Co ratio in the bimetallic MOF. Benefiting from this active site engineering, the CoP@NC/GR electrocatalyst exhibits small overpotentials of 105 mV in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ (or 125 mV in 1 M KOH) to 10 mA cm^-2, accelerated HER kinetics with a low Tafel slope of 47.5 mV dec^-1, and remarkable structural and HER stability.

Electron Density Modulation of MoO2/Ni to Produce Superior Hydrogen Evolution and Oxidation Activities

Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) have aroused great interest, but the high price of platinum group metals (PGMs) limits their development. The electronic reconstruction at the interface of a heterostructure is a promising strategy to enhance their catalytic performance. Here, MoO₂/Ni heterostructure was synthesized to provide effective HER in an alkaline electrolyte and exhibit excellent HOR performance. Theoretical and experimental analyses prove that the electron density around the Ni atom is reduced. The electron density modulation optimizes the hydrogen adsorption and hydroxide adsorption free energy, which can effectively improve the activity of both HER and HOR. Accordingly, the prepared MoO₂/Ni@NF catalyst reveals robust HER activity (η₁₀ = 50.48 mV) and HOR activity (j₀ = ∼1.21 mA cm^-2). This work demonstrates an effective method to design heterostructure interfaces and tailor the surface electronic structure to improve HER/HOR performance.

Electronic Structure and d-Band Center Control Engineering over Ni-Doped CoP3 Nanowall Arrays for Boosting Hydrogen Production

To address the challenge of highly efficient water splitting into H₂, successful fabrication of novel porous three-dimensional Ni-doped CoP₃ nanowall arrays on carbon cloth was realized, resulting in an effective self-supported electrode for the electrocatalytic hydrogen-evolution reaction. The synthesized samples exhibit rough, curly, and porous structures, which are beneficial for gaseous transfer and diffusion during the electrocatalytic process. As expected, the obtained Ni-doped CoP₃ nanowall arrays with a doping concentration of 7% exhibit the promoted electrocatalytic activity. The achieved overpotentials of 176 mV for the hydrogen-evolution reaction afford a current density of 100 mA cm⁻², which indicates that electrocatalytic performance can be dramatically enhanced via Ni doping. The Ni-doped CoP₃ electrocatalysts with increasing catalytic activity should have significant potential in the field of water splitting into H₂. This study also opens an avenue for further enhancement of electrocatalytic performance through tuning of electronic structure and d-band center by doping.