Fabrication of ultra-stable and high-efficient CoP-based electrode toward seawater splitting at industrial-grade current density

The mild and rapid construction of economical, efficient and ultrastable electrodes for hydrogen production via water splitting at industrial-grade current density remains extremely challenging. Herein, a one-step mild electroless plating method is proposed to deposit cobalt phosphorus (CoP)-based species on robust nickel net (NN, denoted as Co-P@NN). The tight interfacial contact, corrosion-proof self-supporting substrate and syner-gistic effect of Co-P@Co-O contribute greatly to the rapid electron transport, high intrinsic activity and long-term durability in the alkaline simulated seawater (1.0 M KOH + 0.5 M NaCl). Attractively, Co-P@Co-O also achieves ultrastable catalysis for over 2880 h with negligible activity attenuation under various alkaline extreme conditions (simulated seawater, high-salt environment, domestic sewage and so on). Furthermore, this work successfully constructs a series of ternary elemental doped (Ni, S, B, Fe and so on) CoP-based catalytic electrodes for highly efficient overall seawater splitting (OSWS). This work demonstrates not only an ideal platform for the versatile strategy of mildly obtaining CoP-based electrocatalysts but also the pioneering philosophy of large-scale hydrogen production.

Automated summary

This study proposes a one-step electroless plating method to fabricate economical, efficient, and ultrastable electrodes for hydrogen production via water splitting. The deposited cobalt phosphorus-based species on a nickel net exhibit tight interfacial contact, rapid electron transport, high intrinsic activity, and long-term durability. The resulting electrode demonstrates not only stable catalysis in alkaline simulated seawater but also under various alkaline extreme conditions.