Self-supported amorphous nanoporous nickel-cobalt phosphide catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

Hydrogen evolution reaction(HER) through electrocatalysis using cost-efficient and long-term stable bimetallic phosphide as electrocatalyst holds a great promise for sustainable clean energy technologies. In this study, self-supported nanoporous Ni-Co-P(np-Ni-Co-P) catalyst with amorphous structure was synthesized by utilizing a facile electrochemical dealloying strategy. The results showed that due to the nanoporous structure, disorder atomic arrangement and alloying effect, the np-Ni-Co-P exhibited outstanding electrocatalytic performance for HER with low overpotential of 114 m V at a current density of 10 mA cm~2, small Tafel slope(57.3 mV dec~(-1)) and good long-term durability in 1 M KOH. The synergetic effect of Ni and Co elements improves the intrinsic activity of the active sites. This research provides a direction for the exploration of bimetallic phosphides toward HER in the water splitting process.