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The development of high-performance and cost-effective electrocatalysts is of great significance for hydrogen production by water splitting but remains challenge. Herein, a metal organic frameworks (MOFs) templating approach is proposed to synthesize Co incorporating FeP nanotubes (Co-Fe-P nanotubes) for efficient for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The MOFs-derived tubular structure with in situ Co substitution lead to abundant catalytic sites, fast mass and charge transport pathways, and desirable electronic configuration. These beneficial effects enable Co-Fe-P nanotubes efficient HER catalytic activity in a wide pH range, achieving small overpotentials of 86, 138, and 66 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2in 1 M KOH, 1 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS), and 0.5 M H2SO4, respectively. The catalytic activity of Co-Fe-P nanotubes outperforms most of the reported FeP-based electrocatalysts. Density functional theory calculations further reveal that Co substitution results in increased density of states near Fermi level, boosting the intrinsic electrocatalytic activity of Co-Fe-P nanotubes. This work affords a feasible way to the synthesis of cheap and efficient FeP-based electrocatalysts for HER.

Flowerlike NiCo2S4hollow sub-microspheres are synthesized through Cu2O templates to support Pd nanoparticles as high-efficiency catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The diameter and shell size of NiCo2S4hollow sub-microspheres are about 400 and 16 nm, respectively. In addition, the surface of the shells is constructed by petallike nanosheets. About 3 nm Pd particles uniformly incorporate with the flowerlike NiCo2S4hollow sub-microsphere to form the NiCo2S4/Pd heterostructure. The NiCo2S4/Pd catalysts exhibit significantly lower overpotential of only 87 and 83 mV at 10 mA/cm2for the HER in both acidic and alkaline conditions, respectively, relative to NiCo2S4(247, 226 mV) and Pd (175, 385 mV) catalysts. Besides, the NiCo2S4/Pd catalysts also exhibit excellent stability of HER in these two conditions. The superior HER performance of NiCo2S4/Pd might be resulted from the unique architecture of metal nanoparticles anchored on the bimetallic sulfide flowerlike hollow sub-microspheres, which could provide high surface area, lots of active sites, strong synergetic effect, and stable structure.