Surface-enriched ultrafine Pt nanoparticles coupled with defective CoP as efficient trifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting and flexible Zn-air battery

Abstract

Developing multifunctional electrocatalysts toward energy-related reactions could reduce the cost and improve the utilization efficiency of raw materials. Herein, defective CoP decorated with ultrafine Pt nanoparticles (Pt/d-CoP/NPC) with multifunctional electrocatalytic performances is prepared via facile pyrolysis and following chemical reduction process. The as-synthesized Pt/d-CoP/NPC owns high half-wave potential of 0.82 V for oxygen reduction reaction with excellent stability in 0.1 mol/L KOH. Density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the adsorption energy of *OO at Pt/d-CoP/NPC is stronger compared to Pt, yielding higher catalytic activity for ORR. Moreover, the resultant electrocatalyst possesses excellent catalytic activities with low overpotentials toward hydrogen evolution reaction (33 mV in 1 mol/L KOH, 6 mV in 0.5 mol/L H2SO4 and 70 mV in 1 mol/L PBS) and oxygen evolution reaction (320 mV) at 10 mA/cm2. Water-splitting and rechargeable Zn-air batteries assembled with the as-synthesized Pt/d-CoP/NPC as electrodes exhibit outstanding activity and long-range stability. Remarkably, sustainable energies and homemade Zn-air battery can efficiently drive the Pt/d-CoP/NPC electrolyzer with sumless hydrogen bubbles generated, verifying the potential applications for renewable energy storage.