Construction of Porous Mo3P/Mo Nanobelts as Catalysts for Efficient Water Splitting

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie International Edition Vol. 57; no. 43; pp. 14139 - 14143
• Main Authors: Li, Feng, Han, Gao‐Feng, Noh, Hyuk‐Jun, Lu, Yalin, Xu, Jiao, Bu, Yunfei, Fu, Zhengping, Baek, Jong‐Beom
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 22.10.2018
• Edition: International ed. in English
• Subjects: alkaline media; Catalysis; Catalysts; Chemical synthesis; Density functional theory; Hydrogen evolution reactions; Mo3P; nanobelts; porous structures; Slope stability; Water splitting
• ISSN: 1433-7851; 1521-3773
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.201808844

A novel synthesis strategy is demonstrated to prepare Mo3P/Mo nanobelts with porous structure for the first time. The growth and formation mechanism of the porous Mo3P/Mo nanobelt structure was disclosed by varying the contents of H2/PH3 and the reaction temperature. During the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysis, the optimized porous Mo3P/Mo nanobelts exhibited a small overpotential of 78 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 and a low Tafel slope of 43 mV dec−1, as well as long‐term stability in alkaline media, surpassing Pt wire. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the H2O dissociation on the surface of Mo3P is favorable during the HER. A novel synthesis strategy is designed to prepare Mo3P/Mo nanobelts with porous structure for the first time. During the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the optimized porous Mo3P/Mo nanobelts exhibited superb catalytic activity and stability in alkaline media, surpassing Pt wire.