Energy-saving H2 Generation Coupled with Oxidative Alcohol Refining over Bimetallic Phosphide Ni2P-CoP Junction Bifunctional Electrocatalysts

The realization of large-scale H-2 production from electrocatalytic water splitting is severely impeded by the kinetically sluggish and economically less viable anodic oxygen evolution reaction. Here, an efficient strategy was established for the concurrent H-2 production and oxidative alcohols refining into value-added formate by utilizing self-supported Ni2P-CoP bifunctional electrocatalysts. Benefiting from high intrinsic activity, abundant active sites, and synergistic promoting effects of bimetallic phosphides, the constructed two-electrode electrolyzer required a cell voltage of around 1.3 V to achieve 10 mA cm(-2), which is more than 200 mV lower than that of pure water splitting. Moreover, simultaneous productions of H-2 with near-unity conversion efficiency and formate at high faradaic efficiencies of 99.8 and 89.6 % oxidatively produced from methanol and glycerol, respectively, were achieved with excellent durability. This work presents a general and economic approach toward the fabrication of cost-effective electrocatalysts for energy-efficient and profitable large-scale renewable energy integration.

Automated summary

An efficient strategy was developed for concurrent H-2 production and refining oxidative alcohols into value-added formate using self-supported Ni2P-CoP bifunctional electrocatalysts. This method enabled high-efficiency hydrogen production under low voltage conditions and demonstrated excellent durability.