Metallic Co, CoS, and P co-doped N enriched carbon derived from ZIF-67 as an efficient catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

Exploring non-precious materials with efficient electrocatalytic performance to replace the precious Pt-based materials for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is still a great challenge now. Herein, metallic Co, CoS, and P co-doped N enriched carbon (CoSP/NC) was successfully fabricated by using ZIF-67 as precursor via a facile pyrolysis, sulphurization, and phosphorization process for HER application. ZIF-67 was transformed into metallic Co doped N enriched carbon (Co/NC) undergoing the treatment of high temperature. After being sulphurized, part of metallic Co was transformed into CoS and attached firmly on the surface of the catalyst. P element was well dispersed on the catalyst during the phosphorization process. The fabricated CoSP/NC exhibits the optimal HER activity with the superior overpotential of 183 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and the lowest Tafel slope of 64.25 mV dec−1. Furthermore, CoSP/NC shows superior durability. The excellent HER performance may be ascribed to the abundant active sites, firm structure, and superior electrical conductivity of the carbon. Thus, this work provides a new strategy to fabricate non-precious materials with excellent HER performance for the following researchers.