High-Performance Overall Water Splitting Electrocatalysts Derived from Cobalt-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks

The design of active, robust, and nonprecious electrocatalysts with both H-2 and O-2 evolution reaction (HER and OER) activities for overall water splitting is highly desirable but remains a grand challenge. Herein, we report a facile two-step method to synthesize porous Co-P/NC nano-polyhedrons composed of CoPx (a mixture of CoP and Co2P) nanoparticles embedded in N-doped carbon matrices as electrocatalysts for overall water splitting. The Co-P/NC catalysts were prepared by direct carbonization of Co-based zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-67) followed by phosphidation. Benefiting from the large specific surface area, controllable pore texture, and high nitrogen content of ZIF (a subclass of metal-organic frameworks), the optimal Co-P/NC showed high specific surface area of 183 m(2) g(-1) and large mesopores, and exhibited remarkable catalytic performance for both HER and OER in 1.0, M KOH, affording a current density of 10 mA cm(-2) at low overpotentials of -154 mV for HER and 319 mV for OER, respectively. Furthermore, a Co-P/NC-based alkaline electrolyzer approached 165 mA cm(-2) at 2.0 V, superior to that of Pt/IrO2 couple, along with strong stability. Various characterization techniques including X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) revealed that the superior activity and strong stability of Co-P/NC originated from its 3D interconnected mesoporosity with high specific surface area, high conductivity, and synergistic effect of CoPx encapsulated within N-doped carbon matrices.