Electrocatalytic Water Splitting over Nickel Iron Hydroxide-cobalt Phosphide Composite Electrode

doi:10.15541/jim20230432

Abstract

Abstract:

NiFeOH/CoP/NF composite electrode was fabricated by constructing a metal hydroxide layer on the surface of cobalt phosphide via hydrothermal, phosphating, and electrodeposition methods. The electrolytic water splitting to hydrogen performance by as-prepared electrode was investigated in 1.0 mol/L KOH medium. NiFeOH/CoP/NF composite electrode exhibited excellent water electrolysis performance, and the required overpotentials for HER and OER at 100 mA/cm²current density were 141 and 372 mV, respectively. When NiFeOH/CoP/NF electrode served as both cathode and anode for water splitting, only 1.61 V voltage was required to reach current density of 10 mA/cm². Because NiFeOH protection layer enhanced the electrocatalytic activity and stability of CoP for water splitting, NiFeOH/CoP/NF composite electrode exhibited high stability during the galvanostatic electrolysis in the HER and OER, and its activity could maintain 60000 s without significant performance degradation. The photovoltaic-electrolytic water cell constructed with two NiFeOH/CoP/NF electrodes and GaAs solar cell showed 18.0% efficiency of solar to hydrogen under 100 mW/cm² simulated solar irradiation and worked stably for 200 h.

Key words: cobalt phosphide, metal hydroxide protection layer, electrocatalytic water splitting, stability

CLC Number:

O646
O643

YANG Bo, LÜ Gongxuan, MA Jiantai. Electrocatalytic Water Splitting over Nickel Iron Hydroxide-cobalt Phosphide Composite Electrode[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2024, 39(4): 374-382.

Figures/Tables 9

Fig. 1 Synthesis diagram of electrodes (a), SEM images (b-d) and XRD patterns (e-g) of Co precursor/NF (b, e), CoP/NF (c, f), and NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s (d, g)

Fig. 2 Ni2p(a), Co2p(b), P2p(c), and Fe2p(d) XPS spectra of Co precursor/NF, CoP/NF, and NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s

Fig. 3 HER electrocatalytic properties of bare NF, Co precursor/NF, CoP/NF, and NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s (a) LSV curves; (b) Corresponding Tafel plots; (c) Nyquist plots at -0.20 V (vs. RHE); (d) Chronopotentiometry plots of CoP/NF and NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s at the current density of -10 mA/cm2

Fig. 4 OER electrocatalytic properties of bare NF, Co precursor/NF, CoP/NF, and NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s (a) LSV curves; (b) Corresponding Tafel plots; (c) Nyquist plots at the potential of 1.60 V (vs. RHE); (d) Chronopotentiometry plots of CoP/NF and NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s at the current density of 10 mA/cm2

Fig. 5 Electrocatalytic overall water splitting properties of NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s||NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s two electrode system and hydrogen production efficiency of the photovoltaic-electrocatalytic system consisting of two electrode cell and GaAs solar cell (a) LSV curve; (b) Long term chronopotentiometry plot at current density of 10 mA/cm2; (c) Galvanostatic electrocatalytic hydrogen and oxygen evolution curves, Faradic efficiency (FE), and electricity to hydrogen efficiency curves (ETH); (d) Hydrogen, oxygen evolution and corresponding solar to hydrogen efficiency curves of a photovoltaic-electrocatalytic system consisting of NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s||NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s electrocatalytic cell and GaAs solar cell

Fig. S1 TEM characterization of Co precursor/NF, CoP/NF, and NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s (a-c) TEM images of (a) Co precursor/NF, (b) CoP/NF, and (c) NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s; (d-f) HRTEM images of (d) Co precursor/NF, (e) CoP/NF, and (f) NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s; (g, h) SAED images in crystalline (1) and amorphous (2) areas of (f); (i) HAADF-STEM image and (j) Ni, Fe, Co, P, O element mappings of NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s

Fig. S2 Cathode LSV curves of CoP/NF, and NiFeOH/CoP/NF-xs prepared with different electrodeposition time (a), and current density difference versus scan rate to calculate the double layer capacities (Cdls) of bare NF, Co precursor/NF, CoP/NF, and NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s (b)

Fig. S3 Anode LSV curves of CoP/NF and NiFeOH/CoP/NF-xs prepared with different electrodeposition time (a), XRD and SEM characterization of NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s after cathode and anode chronopotentiometry test (b-d) (b) XRD spectra after HER and OER; (c) SEM image after HER; (d) SEM image after OER

Fig. S3 XPS characterization of NiFeOH/CoP/NF-200s before and after HER and OER chronopotentiometry test (a) Ni2p; (b) Co2p; (c) P2p; (d) Fe2p

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