PNNL

Abstract

Finely controlled synthesis of high active and robust nonprecious metal catalysts with excellent catalytic efficiency in oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is extremely vital for making the water splitting process more energy-efficient and economical. Among these noble metal-free catalysts, transition-metal-based nanomaterials are considered as one of the most promising OER catalysts due to their relatively low-cost intrinsic activities, high abundance and diversity in terms of structure and morphology. In this work, we reported a facile sugar-blowing technique and low-temperature phosphorization to generate 3D self-supported metal involved carbon nanostructures, which termed as Co2P@Co/nitrogen-doped carbon (Co2P@Co/N-C). By capitalizing on the 3D porous nanostructures with high surface area, generously dispersed active sites, the intimate interaction between active sites and 3D N-doped carbon, the resultant Co2P@Co/N-C exhibited satisfying OER performance superior to CoO@Co/N-C, delivering 10 mA cm-2 at overpotential of 0.32 V. It is noting that in contrast to the substantial current density loss of RuO2, Co2P@Co/N-C showed much enhanced catalytic activity during the stability test and the 1.8-fold increase in current density was observed after stability test. Furthermore, the obtained Co2P@Co/N-C can also be served as an excellent nonprecious metal catalyst for methanol and glucose electrooxidation in alkaline media, further extending their potential applications.