title: Phytic acid-derivative transition metal phosphides encapsulated in N,P-codoped carbon: an efficient and durable hydrogen evolution electrocatalyst in a wide pH range.
abstract: Applications of highly-efficient and durable non-precious metal electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) have great potential to relieve the energy crisis. Here, we demonstrate a green method for fabrication of a number of transition metal phosphides (TMPs) by pyrolyzing melamine and self-assembled phytic acid (PA) cross-linked metal complexes. The obtained materials consisting of TMP nanoparticles (NPs) are encapsulated in N,P-codoped carbon (NPC). Among TMPs, the resultant FeP NPs encapsulated in the NPC matrix (FeP NPs@NPC) show the highest HER activity at all pH values. At a current density of 10 mA cm-2, FeP NPs@NPC displays overpotentials of 130, 386 and 214 mV in 0.5 M H2SO4, 1.0 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS) and 1.0 M KOH, respectively. Additionally, the encapsulation by NPC effectively prevents FeP NPs from corrosion, exhibiting almost unfading catalytic activity after 10 h testing in acidic, neutral and basic electrolytes. More importantly, other TMPs wrapped in NPC (CoP NPs@NPC and Ni2P NPs@NPC) can be easily obtained by this method, which also exhibit relatively high activity toward HER. Therefore, this generic synthesis strategy opens a door for unprecedented design and fabrication of novel low-cost TMP based electrocatalysts for HER and other electrochemical applications.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China. msc@whut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zonghua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Pu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China. msc@whut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Ibrahim Saana
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Amiinu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China. msc@whut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chengtian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China. msc@whut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China. msc@whut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zongkui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China. msc@whut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shichun
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3902-0976
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mu