Well-defined ternary metal phosphide nanowires with stabilized Pt nanoclusters to boost alkaline hydrogen evolution...

Designing low-content and high-activity Pt-based catalysts with the high durability for the electrochemical hydrogen production remains a challenge. In this study, a ternary metal phosphide (NiCoP) with 1D nanowire (NW) and 2D nanosheet (NS) morphologies incorporating Pt clusters (denoted as Pt_cluster-NiCoP@NF NWs and Pt_cluster-NiCoP@NF NSs, respectively) was prepared using a hydrothermal-phosphorization-electrodeposition method. Based on the "tip effect" of NWs and a high electrochemical surface area, the as-prepared Pt_cluster-NiCoP@NF NWs display better hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance, with a low overpotential of 65 mV at a high current density of 100 mA cm^-2 and a low Tafel slope of 38.86 mV dec^-1, than the Pt_cluster-NiCoP@NF NSs, with an overportential of 95 mV at 42.53 mV dec^-1. This indicates that the NiCoP NW-based support exhibits faster HER kinetics. The mass activity (11.47 A mgPt^-1) of the Pt_cluster-NiCoP@NF NWs is higher than that of commercial Pt/C catalysts. Significantly, the Pt_cluster-NiCoP@NF NWs display excellent cyclic stability with negligible losses for 5000 cycles and 30-h tests at a high current of 500 mA cm^-2.