Bimetallic phosphides embedded in hierarchical P-doped carbon for sodium ion battery and hydrogen evolution reaction applications

Abstract

Transition metal phosphides have been explored as promising active materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) applications owing to their unique physical and chemical characteristics. However, they suffer from the drawbacks such as severe agglomeration, and sluggish reaction kinetics. Herein, bimetallic phosphides (Ni2P/ZnP4) embedded in P-doped carbon hierarchical microspheres are demonstrated with robust structural integrity, fast charge transfer, and abundant active sites. As expected, the optimally structured Ni2P/ZnP4 composite exhibits good electrochemical performance as an anode material in SIBs, including high specific capacity, good cycling stability and rate capability. Meanwhile, the Ni2P/ZnP4 composite also exhibits excellent electrocatalytic performance for HER with a small overpotential of 62 mV, a Tafel slope of 53 mV dec−1, as well as excellent stability.