Bifunctional Nickel Phosphide Nanocatalysts Supported on Carbon Fiber Paper for Highly Efficient and Stable Overall Water Splitting

Abstract

Self‐supported electrodes comprising carbon fiber paper (CP) integrated with bifunctional nickel phosphide (Ni‐P) electrocatalysts are fabricated by electrodeposition of Ni on functionalized CP, followed by a convenient one‐step phosphorization treatment in phosphorus vapor at 500 °C. The as‐fabricated CP@Ni‐P electrode exhibits excellent electrocatalytic performance toward hydrogen evolution in both acidic and alkaline solutions, with only small overpotentials of 162 and 250 mV, respectively, attaining a cathodic current density of 100 mA cm −2 . Furthermore, the CP@Ni‐P electrode also exhibits superior catalytic performance toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER). An exceptionally high OER current of 50.4 mA cm −2 is achieved at an overpotential of 0.3 V in 1.0 m KOH. The electrode can sustain 10 mA cm −2 for 180 h with only negligible degradation, showing outstanding durability. Detailed microstructural and compositional studies reveal that upon OER in alkaline solution the surface Ni‐P is transformed to NiO covered with a thin Ni(OH) x layer, forming a Ni‐P/NiO/Ni(OH) x heterojunction, which presumably enhances the electrocatalytic performance for OER. Given the well‐defined bifunctionality, a full alkaline electrolyzer is constructed using two identical CP@Ni‐P electrodes as cathode and anode, respectively, which can realize overall water splitting with efficiency as high as 91.0% at 10 mA cm −2 for 100 h.