Molten salt-induced vertical CoP/Co nanosheets array coupled with carbon for efficient water splitting

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Catalysis

Background:

• Developing efficient non-noble metal catalysts is crucial for overall water splitting.
• Current catalysts face limitations in intrinsic activity and available active sites.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a facile molten salt strategy for fabricating advanced catalysts.
• To design a hierarchical CoP/Co nanosheet array on a carbon matrix for enhanced water splitting.

Main Methods:

• A heterogeneous molten salt strategy was employed to synthesize the catalyst.
• The morphology and composition were characterized.
• Electrocatalytic performance for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) was evaluated.
• Theoretical simulations were performed to understand the catalytic mechanism.

Main Results:

• The molten salt method successfully produced vertically attached CoP/Co nanosheets on a carbon matrix.
• The optimized CoP/Co/C-6 catalyst exhibited excellent bifunctional performance.
• Low overpotentials of 132 mV (HER) and 320 mV (OER) at 10 mA cm⁻² were achieved.
• Theoretical simulations confirmed the heterostructure's role in reducing intermediate adsorption energy.

Conclusions:

• The molten salt-assisted method is effective for designing novel 2D nano-hybrids.
• The CoP/Co/C catalyst shows great potential for energy conversion applications.
• This approach offers a pathway for developing high-performance, non-noble metal electrocatalysts.