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Updated: Jul 28, 2026

Simple Methods for the Preparation of Non-noble Metal Bulk-electrodes for Electrocatalytic Applications
Published on: June 21, 2017
Deciphering the surface electrochemical reconstruction of ruthenium-cobalt-nickel phosphide for efficient
Wei Lian1, Zhengjie Chen2, Haoyang Mo3
1Key Laboratory of Green Utilization of Critical Non-metallic Mineral Resources of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430073, China; School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430073, China.
Abstract:
Development of efficient and stable bifunctional transition metal phosphide catalysts is critical for advancing hydrogen production technologies. Herein, RuCo co-doped Ni8P3 (RuCoNiP) was designed and synthesized by one-step electrodeposition for Ni electronic structure modulation, and evolved to RuCoNiP@α-Ni(OH)2 and RuCoNiP@Co/Ni(OH)x heterointerfaces by self-assembled reconstruction during HER and OER processes, respectively. RuCoNiP@α-Ni(OH)2 enhances HER activity (305.8 mV@-1000 mA cm-2) and stability (100 h@-1000 mA cm-2) by weakening OH* and H* competitive adsorption. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations revel that the ΔGH* of Ni site (RuCoNiP) is reduced by the assignment of a large number of Ni d-states at the Fermi level by RuCo doping, which synergistically interacts with the enhanced adsorption of α-Ni(OH)2 to OH*, resulting in a lower energy barrier for hydrogen adsorption-desorption. Moreover, RuCoNiP@Co/Ni(OH)x relies on M(OH)x to enhance the activity (351.4 mV@1000 mA cm-2) and stability (100 h@1000 mA cm-2) of OER. Dual-electrode system RuCoNiP@α-Ni(OH)2//RuCoNiP@Co/Ni(OH)x demonstrates an ultra-low battery voltage (1.95 V@1000 mA cm-2) and excellent stability (50 h@1000 mA cm-2). This efficient synthetic strategy and the self-assembled heterojunction structure offer a promising path for developing efficient overall water-splitting catalysts.
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