Superaerophobic Quaternary Ni–Co–S–P Nanoparticles for Efficient Overall Water-Splitting

Abstract

The aggravation of environmental problems leads to an increasing demand for clean hydrogen fuel. Simplification of the synthesis process is the key to realize mass production. In this work, quaternary Ni–Co–S–P nanoparticles (NPs) were directly grown on carbon fiber cloth via a summary one-step electrodeposition process. The interconnected nanoparticles are instrumental in increasing the specific surface area and accelerating mass transfer, thus enhancing the electrocatalytic overall water-splitting performance. Moreover, their superhydrophilic and superaerophobic properties could facilitate the diffusion of medium and the rapid delivery of the generated bubble. As a result, bifunctional Ni–Co–S–P nanoparticles (NPs) achieve a current density of 10 mA cm–2 at low overpotentials of 280 and 78 mV for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), respectively, along with the Tafel slopes of 69 and 89 mV dec–1. Besides, the Ni–Co–S–P displays an excellent performance with a cell voltage of 1.61 V to reach 10 mA cm–2 for overall water-splitting. Moreover, benefiting from the superhydrophilic and superaerophobic characteristics, Ni–Co–S–P also exhibits robust stability and durability for both the OER and HER. This paper provides a new idea for simplifying the synthesis process of electrocatalysts.