Enhancing Hydrogen Evolution Electrocatalytic Performance in Neutral Media via Nitrogen and Iron Phosphide Interactions

It remains a challenge to develop efficient electrocatalysts in neutral media for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) due to the sluggish kinetics and switch of the rate determining step. Although metal phosphides are widely used HER catalysts, their structural stability is an issue due to oxidization, and the HER performance in neutral media requires improvement. Herein, a new material, i.e., grapevine-shaped N-doped iron phosphide on carbon nanotubes, as an efficient HER catalyst in neutral media is developed. The optimized catalyst shows an overpotential of 256mV at a large current density of 65mAcm(-2), which is even 10mV lower than that of the commercial 20% Pt/C catalyst. The excellent performance of the catalyst is further studied by combined computational and experimental techniques, which proves that the interaction between nitrogen and iron phosphides can provide more efficient active structures and stabilize the metal phosphide electrocatalysts for HER.

Automated summary

A new material, grapevine-shaped N-doped iron phosphide on carbon nanotubes, has been developed as an efficient HER catalyst in neutral media. The optimized catalyst shows a lower overpotential compared to a commercial catalyst at a high current density, indicating its excellent performance. The study demonstrates that the interaction between nitrogen and iron phosphides can enhance the active structures and stabilize metal phosphide electrocatalysts for HER.