Electron Transfer in Heterojunctions Comprised of Co3O4 Nanorods Decorated with CoP Nanoparticles for Electrocatalytic Water Splitting

Abstract

Heterostructure design has been employed for electrocatalytic water splitting, nevertheless, the correlation between charge distribution at the active sites and the electrochemical processes remains ambiguous. In this study, bifunctional nanoarrayed CoP/Co₃O₄ nanosheets on carbon cloth (CC) heterostructure nanoparticles were systematically synthesized to enhance electrical transmission at the interface. The CoP/Co₃O₄ coupling CC substrate increases the electron transport efficiency and prevents catalyst aggregation and corrosion during catalytic operations. The synthesized materials exhibited expected hydrogen evolution reaction/oxygen evolution reaction (HER/OER) performance under alkaline circumstances, attaining 10 mA cm^–2 with overpotentials of 58 and 273 mV, respectively. Meanwhile, just 1.61 V is required for the two-electrode configuration to attain 10 mA cm^–2, exceeding earlier recorded Co₃O₄-based electrocatalysts. Experimental and density functional theory (DFT) studies confirm that CoOOH/Co₃O₄ functions as the true active site for the reconstructive formation of CoP/Co₃O₄, hence diminishing the adsorption energy of the intermediate and accelerating the reaction kinetics. This technique is anticipated to facilitate efficient charge transfer in water splitting and be applicable to other energy transformation processes.