Self-supported Ni 2 P/NiMoP 2 bimetallic phosphide with strong electronic interaction for efficient overall water splitting.

Electronic regulation via interface engineering is recognized as an attractive strategy for boosting electrocatalytic activity. In this work, a self-supported heterostructure electrocatalyst is explored by a feasible hydrothermal-pyrolysis strategy, in which Ni ₂ P nanoparticles are anchored on NiMoP ₂ nanosheet arrays grown on carbon cloth (Ni ₂ P/NiMoP ₂ /CC). Benefitting from the nanosheet array architecture and the synergy effect between the Ni ₂ P and NiMoP ₂ , the as-prepared Ni ₂ P/NiMoP ₂ /CC manifests highly efficient activity and stability toward both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Density functional theory calculations further indicates that the heterointerface in Ni ₂ P/NiMoP ₂ /CC enable optimized interface electron structure and reduce the activation barriers for intermediates, improving the intrinsic electrocatalytic activity. Remarkably, the Ni ₂ P/NiMoP ₂ /CC||Ni ₂ P/NiMoP ₂ /CC electrolyzer affords 10 mA cm ^-2 at a low voltage of 1.59 V, outperforming its monometallic phosphides counterparts and most of transition metal-based bifunctional electrocatalysts. The electrolyser was powered by a solar cell to produce H ₂ and O ₂ simultaneously, indicating its potential application in solar-to-hydrogen conversion.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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