Mo-doped NiCoP nanoplates with amorphous/crystalline heterostructure for efficient alkaline overall water splitting

Abstract

Developing highly active, low-cost, and robust transition metal-based phosphide for alkaline overall water splitting is of utmost important to promote the practical application from fundamental. Herein, two-dimensional (2D) Mo-doped NiCoP nanoplates with novel amorphous/crystalline heterostructure (Mo(0.05)-NiCoP) in situ grown on three-dimensional nickel foam (NF) has been successfully constructed through hydrothermal reaction followed by the phosphorization treatment. Benefited from the synergy of amorphous/crystalline heterointerface, Mo doping, and unique 2D structure, the optimized Mo(0.05)-NiCoP exhibits outstanding electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), achieving low overpotential of 67 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² for HER and 233 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² for OER. Meanwhile, there are only a cell voltage of 1.569 V was required to drive 10 mA cm⁻² when Mo(0.05)-NiCoP used as both anode and cathode for overall water splitting. Thus, this study provides a novel approach to construct efficient 2D bifunctional catalysts with amorphous/crystalline heterostructure and heterogeneous metal doping.