Liquid-exfoliation of S-doped black phosphorus nanosheets for enhanced oxygen evolution catalysis

Abstract

Black phosphorus (BP) has recently drawn great attention in the field of electrocatalysis due to its distinct electrocatalytic activity for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). However, the slow OER kinetics and the poor environmental stability of BP seriously limits its overall OER performance and prevents its electrocatalysis application. Here, sulfur (S)-doped BP nanosheets, which are prepared using high-pressure synthesis followed by liquid exfoliation, have been demonstrated to have much better OER electrocatalytic activity and environmental stability compared to their undoped counterparts. The S-doped BP nanosheets display a Tafel slope of 75 mV dec−1, which is a favorable value refered to the kinetics of OER in electrochemical tests. Notably, there is no degradation of S-doped BP nanosheets after six days exposure to ambient, indicating an excellent environmental stability of the S-doped BP. The density functional theory calculations show that the OER activity of BP originate from its crystal defects and heteroatom S doping can effectively enhance its OER activity and stability. These results highlight the doping effect on electrocatalytic activities and stability of BP and provide a simple and effective method to design highly efficient OER catalysts based on the modification of BP.