Photo-electro concerted catalysis of a highly active Pt/CoP/C nanocomposite for the hydrogen evolution reaction

In this paper, a novel Pt/CoP/C photo-electro synergistic catalyst was successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal method combined with phosphorus doping treatment. The addition of Vulcan XC-72R is in favor of effectively preventing agglomeration of active catalytic sites, resulting in more uniform and smaller Pt and CoP nanoparticles. The as-obtained Pt/CoP/C shows excellent photo-electro catalytic performance for the HER with simulated solar light irradiation. The optimal hydrogen production is 5384.18 mmol h-1 g-1, which is obviously higher than that of the commercial catalyst (20 wt% Pt/C: 4608.52 mmol h-1 g-1). The research results show that introducing cobalt phosphide into the Pt catalyst can improve the electrocatalytic activity and stability for the HER; in particular, the existence of Co3O4 in Pt/CoP/C leads to an efficient photo-electro catalysis under irradiation, which significantly improves the catalytic activity of Pt. The results above provide a novel strategy for the rational design of cost-effective Pt-based composites towards a fast HER. A facile phosphorus doping method was used to synthesize Pt/CoP/C exhibiting superior photo electro-catalytic activity toward HER, and H2 amount reaches 5384.18 mmol h-1 g-1 under irradiation, displaying a cost-effective catalytic capacity of Pt.

Automated summary

In this paper, a novel Pt/CoP/C photo-electro synergistic catalyst was successfully synthesized and its performance was investigated. The catalyst exhibited excellent photo-electro catalytic performance, with significantly higher hydrogen production compared to a commercial catalyst. The introduction of cobalt phosphide and the existence of Co3O4 were identified as key factors for enhancing the catalytic activity.