title: Strong Metal-Phosphide Interactions in Core-Shell Geometry for Enhanced Electrocatalysis.
abstract: Rational design of multicomponent material structures with strong interfacial interactions enabling enhanced electrocatalysis represents an attractive but underdeveloped paradigm for creating better catalysts for important electrochemical energy conversion reactions. In this work, we report metal-phosphide core-shell nanostructures as a new model electrocatalyst material system where the surface electronic states of the shell phosphide and its interactions with reaction intermediates can be effectively influenced by the core metal to achieve higher catalytic activity. The strategy is demonstrated by the design and synthesis of iron-iron phosphide (Fe@FeP) core-shell nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) where we find that the electronic interactions between the metal and the phosphide components increase the binding strength of hydrogen adatoms toward the optimum. As a consequence, the Fe@FeP/CNT material exhibits exceptional catalytic activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction, only requiring overpotentials of 53-110 mV to reach catalytic current densities of 10-100 mA cm-2.
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University , Chongqing 400044, China.
authors.forename: Xiaolin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University , Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Minye
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yiren
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University , Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Yingying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mi
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Judy J
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6346-2814
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Cha
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Conversion Science and Engineering, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shanghai 201210, China.
authors.forename: Zhiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University , Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3187-2023
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University , Chongqing 400044, China.
authors.forename: Xueming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hailiang
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4409-2034
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: Metal−phosphide interaction; core−shell nanostructures; electrocatalysis; hygrogen evolution reaction; iron phosphide