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Highly efficient nanoporous CoBP electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

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Abstract

Water splitting is an environment friendly and efficient way to produce hydrogen. Highly efficient and low-cost non-noble metal catalysts play an important role in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Dealloying is a simple method to prepare three-dimensional self-supporting nanoporous materials without conductive supports and binders. In this work, we prepared self-supporting nanoporous CoBP electrocatalyst by dealloying method. The influence of the synergistic effect of nonmetallic elements on catalytic activity was investigated. The synergistic electronic effect of Co, B and P atoms on the surface optimizes the H atoms desorption and results in superior HER activity. The bi-continuous structure of nanoporous CoBP provides more active area and favors of electron and electrolyte transfer. The nanoporous CoBP with the B/P atomic ratio of 1/3 exhibits low overpotential of 42 mV at 10 mA·cm−2, small Tafel slope of 39.8 mV·dec−1 and good long-term stability with no performance decrease for 20 h in alkaline solution.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51771131).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300350, China

    Hui-Lan Guang, Sheng-Li Zhu, Yan-Qin Liang, Shui-Lin Wu, Zhao-Yang Li, Zhen-Duo Cui & Akihisa Inoue

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou, 730070, China

    Sheng-Li Zhu

  3. College of Chemistry Engineering and Materials Science, Quanzhou Normal University, Quanzhou, 362000, China

    Sheng-Li Zhu & Shui-Yuan Luo

  4. International Institute of Green Materials, Josai International University, Togane, 283-8555, Japan

    Akihisa Inoue

  5. Department of Physics, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 22254, Saudi Arabia

    Akihisa Inoue

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  1. Hui-Lan Guang
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Guang, HL., Zhu, SL., Liang, YQ. et al. Highly efficient nanoporous CoBP electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction. Rare Met. 40, 1031–1039 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-020-01697-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-020-01697-7

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