MOF Template-Derived Carbon Shell-Embedded CoP Hierarchical Nanosheet as Bifunctional Catalyst for Overall Water Splitting

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 13; no. 17; p. 2421
• Main Authors: Liu, Mei-Jun, Yang, Fu-Hao, Mei, Ji-Cheng, Guo, Xu, Wang, Hua-Yang, He, Meng-Yao, Yao, Yu-Ang, Zhang, Hai-Feng, Liu, Cheng-Bin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 25.08.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Carbon; Carbon compounds; Catalysts; Composite materials; Electric properties; Electrical conductivity; Electrical resistivity; Electrocatalysts; Electrodes; Ethanol; hierarchical nanosheet; Hybrids; Hydrogen evolution; Hydrogen production; Mechanical properties; Metal foils; Metal-organic frameworks; metal–organic framework; Morphology; Nanosheets; Nanostructure; Nitrates; Organometallic compounds; overall water splitting; Oxygen evolution reactions; Phosphorus compounds; Splitting; Titanium; transition metal phosphide; Water splitting; Zeolites; China
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano13172421

The design of earth-abundant and highly efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution and oxygen evolution reactions (HER/OER) is crucial for hydrogen production through overall water splitting. Herein, we report a novel nanostructure consisting of vertically oriented CoP hierarchical nanosheet arrays with in situ-assembled carbon skeletons on a Ti foil electrode. The novel Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-67 (ZIF-67) template-derived hierarchical nanosheet architecture effectively improved electrical conductivity, facilitated electrolyte transport, and increased the exposure of the active sites. The obtained bifunctional hybrid exhibited a low overpotential of 72 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and a small Tafel slope of 65 mV dec−1 for HER, and an improved overpotential of 329 mV and a Tafel slope of 107 mV dec−1 for OER. Furthermore, the assembled C@CoP||C@CoP electrolyzer showed excellent overall water splitting performance (1.63 V) at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 and superior durability. This work provides a structure engineering strategy for metal–organic framework (MOF) template-derived hybrids with outstanding electrocatalytic performance.