High-Performance Transition Metal Phosphide Alloy Catalyst for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

作者：Kewei Liu, Changlin Zhang, Yuandong Sun, Guanghui Zhang, Xiaochen Shen, Feng Zou, Haichang Zhang, Zhenwei Wu, Evan C. Wegener, Clinton J. Taubert, Jeffrey T. Miller, Zhenmeng Peng, Yu Zhu · 发表于：ACS Nano · 年份：2017 · DOI：10.1021/acsnano.7b04646 · 被引用次数：393 · 研究领域：Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion、Fuel Cells and Related Materials、Advanced battery technologies research

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a pivotal process in many energy conversion and storage techniques, such as water splitting, regenerative fuel cells, and rechargeable metal-air batteries. The synthesis of stable, efficient, non-noble metal-based electrocatalysts for OER has been a long-standing challenge. In this work, a facile and scalable method to synthesize hollow and conductive iron–cobalt phosphide (Fe–Co–P) alloy nanostructures using an Fe–Co metal organic complex as a precursor is described. The Fe–Co–P alloy exhibits excellent OER activity with a specific current density of 10 mA/cm 2 being achieved at an overpotential as low as 252 mV. The current density at 1.5 V ( vs reversible hydrogen electrode) of the Fe–Co–P catalyst is 30.7 mA/cm 2, which is more than 3 orders of magnitude greater than that obtained with state-of-the-art Fe–Co oxide catalysts. Our mechanistic experiments and theoretical analysis suggest that the electrochemical-induced high-valent iron stabilizes the cobalt in a low-valent state, leading to the simultaneous enhancement of activity and stability of the OER catalyst.