FeOOH decorated CoP porous nanofiber for enhanced oxygen evolution activity

Abstract

The rational design and fabrication of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts are critical to accelerate the reaction kinetics of the water-splitting process. Herein, FeOOH decorated CoP porous nanofibers were fabricated via electrospinning, oxidation/phosphorization and subsequent deposition of FeOOH. Decorating CoP with FeOOH not only optimized the adsorption ability for oxygen-containing intermediates effectively and facilitated electron transfer but also provided abundant active sites to catalyze OER, resulting in a significant enhancement in the activity. As a result, the optimized CoP/FeOOH hybrid porous nanofibers exhibited excellent OER activity with a low overpotential of 250 mV to offer 10 mA cm−2 and remarkable stability, revealing its potential as a high-performance OER electrocatalyst. The strategy presented in this work can also be used to fabricate other types of transition metal phosphide-based hybrid porous nanofibers for advanced electrochemical applications.