Novel sulfur-doped nickel cobalt phosphide nanosheet arrays on carbon cloth as an efficient electrocatalyst for water splitting

Abstract

The development of electrocatalyst for large-scale production of hydrogen and oxygen via water electrolysis with low overpotential is highly necessary. In this research, a novel electrocatalyst of sulfur-doped nickel cobalt phosphide nanosheets coating over structure of the conductive carbon cloth (CC) (S–NiCoP/CC) was synthesized via a facile electrodeposition method followed by a phosphidization step. Such hierarchical nanostructure with excellent porosity offered rich active sites and high electrical conductivity, thereby accelerating electrocatalyst activities for HER and OER in 1.0 KOH electrolyte. The S–NiCoP/CC required small overpotentials of 90 at 10 mA cm−2 for HER and 320 mV at 20 mA cm−2 for OER. In addition, an electrolyzer based on S–NiCoP/CC electrodes showed a cell voltage of 1.61 V at 20 mA cm−2 along with good stability in 1.0 M KOH electrolyte. The successful synthesis of S–NiCoP/CC prospectively opened a new aspect for developing effective electrocatalyst in water splitting application.