Three-dimensional cage based on porous Ni–Co–Cu phosphide as efficient and stable bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting

Abstract

The development of cheap and high-performance dual electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in an electrolyte is of great importance. Tuning the electronic structure through heteroatom doping and increasing the catalytic sites through designing the morphology of nanostructures are the most popular approaches to enhance electrocatalytic performance. In recent years, with the development of nanotechnology and interface engineering, significant progress has been made in this field, but it is still challenging. Here three-dimensional porous NiCoCu–P cage were synthesized using a quick and easy method with the help of 26-face Cu2O as a sacrificial template, then it was phosphidated by a facile phosphidation heat treatment in N2 atmosphere and then for the electrochemical evaluations, the glassy carbon electrode surface (GCE) surface was modified with it. Taking advantage of these strategies, NiCoCu–P cage offer large surface area, fast electron/mass transfer and open channels for efficient gas release, which show improved electrochemical performance in alkaline environment and achieved an overpotential of −210 mV at 10 mA cm−2 for HER and 240 mV at 50 mA cm−2 for OER. Also, an overall water splitting device is assembled by two symmetric NiCoCu–P cage/carbon cloth as cathode and anode, that can provide a current density of 100 mA cm−2 at a cell voltage of less than 1.6 V.