Nanostructured Co2P electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction and direct comparison with morphologically equivalent CoP

Juan F. Callejas, Carlos G. Read, Eric J. Popczun, Joshua M. McEnaney, Raymond Edward Schaak

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

465 Scopus citations

Abstract

Metal phosphides have emerged as promising Earth-abundant alternatives to platinum for catalyzing the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acidic aqueous solutions. Here, Co2P nanoparticles having a hollow, multifaceted, crystalline morphology have been evaluated as HER electrocatalysts at a mass loading of 1 mg cm-2 on Ti foil substrates. The Co2P/Ti electrodes required low overpotentials of -95 and -109 mV to produce operationally relevant cathodic current densities of -10 and -20 mA cm-2, respectively. These values establish Co2P nanoparticles as highly active Earth-abundant HER catalyst materials. Importantly, the Co2P nanoparticles are morphologically equivalent to previously reported CoP nanoparticle HER catalysts, allowing a direct side-by-side evaluation of their HER activities. Such comparisons of different metal phosphide HER catalysts with the same constituent elements and morphologies are important for identifying the key materials characteristics that lead to high activity.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3769-3774
Number of pages6
JournalChemistry of Materials
Volume27
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - May 26 2015

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Chemistry
  • General Chemical Engineering
  • Materials Chemistry

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