C-O-Co bond-stabilized CoP on carbon cloth toward hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

Highly active, low-cost, and durable electrocatalysts toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are crucial for electrochemical water splitting. Herein, a green, facial, and effective strategy was proposed to develop CoP on carbon cloth (CoP/o-CC) as efficient self-supported hydrogen evolution electrodes. The designed CoP/o-CC exhibits superior catalytic activity with overpotentials of 118 mV and 95.45 mV to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm −2 in acidic and alkaline solution, respectively, which is superior to most reported studies. In addition, the designed CoP/o-CC electrode also possesses excellent stability even under a large current density of 100 mA cm −2 . The origin of significantly enhanced stability thereby was further systematically investigated. Experimental study reveals that the oxygenated functional groups on carbon cloth play the role to bind the CoP electrocatalysts, forming C-O-Co bonds. Thus, the enhanced electrochemical and structural stability of CoP/o-CC is predominantly caused by the interfacial interaction of the C-O-Co bonds between the CoP active materials and surface oxygenated functional groups of carbon fiber. Therefore, we believe that this work provides an in-depth insight into the role of interfacial interaction between the substrate and the catalysts and offers a new methodology to design durable and efficient electrocatalysts. • The high-performance CoP on carbon cloth (CoP/o-CC) was fabricated. • A green and facial strategy was developed to prepare CoP/o-CC. • The significantly enhanced stability of the designed CoP/o-CC was illustrated. • The oxygenated functional groups on carbon fiber will bind to the CoP catalyst.