Nanoarchitectured porous Cu-CoP nanoplates as electrocatalysts for efficient oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract

A polyethylenimine directed synthesis has been explored for the preparation of copper cobalt phosphide nanoplates with a porous surface architecture, which manifested an efficient OER activity due to the formation of phosphate modified Cu-CoOOH as active catalytic phase during electrochemical reactions. • Cu-CoP nanoplates with a porous surface architecture were prepared. • The optimized Cu-CoP catalyst exhibits superior OER activity with an η 10 of 252 mV. • The role of Cu doping in improving the CoP OER performance was studied in detail. • Phosphate modified Cu-CoOOH is the active catalytic center for OER reaction. Transition metal phosphide electrocatalysts have shown tremendous potential for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, we develop Cu-CoP porous nanoplates through polyethylenimine assisted hydrothermal process and subsequent phosphidation treatment. The incorporation of Cu in cobalt phosphide enhances the density of active sites, as well as facilitates fast charge transfer, and hence boosts the OER activity. The Cu-CoP reveals efficient electrocatalytic activity and stability toward the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), with a low overpotential of 252 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm −2 . The post-OER analysis of electrocatalysts confirms that the phosphate modified Cu-CoOOH nanoplates generate on the catalyst surface during the OER process could perform as the active catalyst and improve the OER activity. This work demonstrates the influence of the role of Cu incorporation on structural, morphological and electrocatalytic performance of cobalt phosphide.