Highly efficient nanoporous CoBP electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

Water splitting is an environment friendly and efficient way to produce hydrogen. Highly efficient and low-cost non-noble metal catalysts play an important role in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Dealloying is a simple method to prepare three-dimensional self-supporting nanoporous materials without conductive supports and binders. In this work, we prepared self-supporting nanoporous CoBP electrocatalyst by dealloying method. The influence of the synergistic effect of nonmetallic elements on catalytic activity was investigated. The synergistic electronic effect of Co, B and P atoms on the surface optimizes the H atoms desorption and results in superior HER activity. The bi-continuous structure of nanoporous CoBP provides more active area and favors of electron and electrolyte transfer. The nanoporous CoBP with the B/P atomic ratio of 1/3 exhibits low overpotential of 42 mV at 10 mA center dot cm(-2), small Tafel slope of 39.8 mV center dot dec(-1) and good long-term stability with no performance decrease for 20 h in alkaline solution. Graphic abstract

Automated summary

This study prepared self-supporting nanoporous CoBP electrocatalyst by dealloying method and investigated the influence of synergistic effect of nonmetallic elements on catalytic activity. The synergistic electronic effect of Co, B, and P atoms on the surface optimizes the desorption of H atoms, resulting in superior hydrogen evolution reaction activity.