Template-free synthesis of 1D hollow Fe doped CoP nanoneedles as highly activity electrocatalysts for overall water splitting

Development of low cost and high efficiency electrocatalysts for water splitting systems to produce renewable hydrogen energy is still a significant requirement. The engineering of nanostructure and element doping are effective methods to further improve the perfor-mance of catalysts. Nonmetal (such as N, P, S) doping has been extensively investigated, while the report of metal doping is relatively few. Herein, Fe doped CoP 1D hollow nano-needles on carbon cloth (CC) are designed and fabricated by a hydrothermal method and subsequent phosphorization procedure. The conversion of Fe doped Co-hydroxide@CC to Fe-CoP can produce large number of nanopores, which are closely connected to each other, and form hollow structures within the nanoneedles. Benefiting from the effective Fe doping and the particular hollow nanoneedle structure, the obtained Fe-CoP@CC demonstrates good electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) both in alkaline and acidic solution, affording a current density of 10 mA cm-2 at overpotential of 49 mV and 80 mV, respectively. Moreover, the two-electrode electrolyzer with Fe-CoP@CC as both the cathode and anode catalyst achieve a current density of 10 mA cm-2 at a cell voltage of 1.58 V in 1.0 M KOH solution. The results illustrate that the obtained hollow Fe-CoP@CC nanoneedles can serve as an efficient catalyst for overall water splitting. (c) 2021 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study presents the design and fabrication of Fe-doped CoP 1D hollow nano-needles on carbon cloth, which demonstrate good electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction. The Fe-CoP@CC nanoneedles show potential to serve as an efficient catalyst for overall water splitting.