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Title: Colloidal Cobalt Phosphide Nanocrystals as Trifunctional Electrocatalysts for Overall Water Splitting Powered by a Zinc–Air Battery

Journal Article · · Advanced Materials
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [1]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5];  [1];  [1];  [6];  [5];  [1];  [7];  [3]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Wake Forest Univ., Winston-Salem, NC (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
  2. IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY (United States). Physical Science Division
  3. Harbin Inst. of Technology, Shenzhen (China). Shenzhen Graduate School. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering. Shenzhen Engineering Lab. of Flexible Transparent Conductive Films
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Material Science and Technology Division
  5. Wake Forest Univ., Winston-Salem, NC (United States). Dept. of Physics. Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials
  6. Soochow Univ., Suzhou (China). Inst. of Functional Nano and Soft Materials
  7. High Point Univ., NC (United States). Dept. of Chemistry

Highly efficient and stable electrocatalysts, particularly those that are capable of multifunctionality in the same electrolyte, are in high demand for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). In this paper, highly monodisperse CoP and Co2P nanocrystals (NCs) are synthesized using a robust solution-phase method. The highly exposed (211) crystal plane and abundant surface phosphide atoms make the CoP NCs efficient catalysts toward ORR and HER, while metal-rich Co2P NCs show higher OER performance owing to easier formation of plentiful Co2P@COOH heterojunctions. Density functional theory calculation results indicate that the desorption of OH* from cobalt sites is the rate-limiting step for both CoP and Co2P in ORR and that the high content of phosphide can lower the reaction barrier. A water electrolyzer constructed with a CoP NC cathode and a Co2P NC anode can achieve a current density of 10 mA cm-2 at 1.56 V, comparable even to the noble metal-based Pt/C and RuO2/C pair. Finally and furthermore, the CoP NCs are employed as an air cathode in a primary zinc–air battery, exhibiting a high power density of 62 mW cm-2 and good stability.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; Wake Forest Univ. (United States); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; CHE-1531698
OSTI ID:
1422608
Journal Information:
Advanced Materials, Vol. 30, Issue 9; ISSN 0935-9648
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 230 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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A Review of Precious-Metal-Free Bifunctional Oxygen Electrocatalysts: Rational Design and Applications in Zn−Air Batteries journal August 2018
Fully Solar-Powered Uninterrupted Overall Water-Splitting Systems journal January 2019
Graphdiyne and its Assembly Architectures: Synthesis, Functionalization, and Applications journal May 2019
Interfacial Electron Transfer of Ni 2 P-NiP 2 Polymorphs Inducing Enhanced Electrochemical Properties journal October 2018
Multiscale Structural Engineering of Ni-Doped CoO Nanosheets for Zinc-Air Batteries with High Power Density journal October 2018
Phosphorus‐Rich Colloidal Cobalt Diphosphide (CoP 2 ) Nanocrystals for Electrochemical and Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Evolution journal May 2019
CuCo 2 S 4 Nanosheets@N‐Doped Carbon Nanofibers by Sulfurization at Room Temperature as Bifunctional Electrocatalysts in Flexible Quasi‐Solid‐State Zn–Air Batteries journal July 2019
Low Loading of Rh x P and RuP on N, P Codoped Carbon as Two Trifunctional Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen and Hydrogen Electrode Reactions journal August 2018
Exploring Indium-Based Ternary Thiospinel as Conceivable High-Potential Air-Cathode for Rechargeable Zn-Air Batteries journal September 2018
Densely Populated Isolated Single CoN Site for Efficient Oxygen Electrocatalysis journal April 2019
Multifunctional Transition Metal‐Based Phosphides in Energy‐Related Electrocatalysis journal September 2019
Layered Metal Hydroxides and Their Derivatives: Controllable Synthesis, Chemical Exfoliation, and Electrocatalytic Applications journal November 2019
Recent Progress on Transition Metal Oxides as Bifunctional Catalysts for Lithium‐Air and Zinc‐Air Batteries journal October 2018
Recent Advances in Carbon‐Based Bifunctional Oxygen Catalysts for Zinc‐Air Batteries journal June 2019
Ultrathin Two‐Dimensional Metal‐Organic‐Framework‐Derived CoO/Nitrogen and Sulfur Co‐doped Ultrathin Porous Carbon Nanoplates for Highly Efficient Water Electrolysis journal May 2019
Cobalt‐Doped Tungsten Sulfides as Stable and Efficient Air Electrodes for Rechargeable Zinc‐Air Batteries journal October 2019
MOF‐Derived Copper Nitride/Phosphide Heterostructure Coated by Multi‐Doped Carbon as Electrocatalyst for Efficient Water Splitting and Neutral‐pH Hydrogen Evolution Reaction journal December 2019
Integrated Ultrafine Co 0.85 Se in Carbon Nanofibers: An Efficient and Robust Bifunctional Catalyst for Oxygen Electrocatalysis journal November 2019
Electrode Materials for Rechargeable Zinc-Ion and Zinc-Air Batteries: Current Status and Future Perspectives journal May 2019
Colloidal silver diphosphide (AgP2) nanocrystals as low overpotential catalysts for CO2 reduction to tunable syngas journal December 2019
Recent advances in hybrid sodium–air batteries journal January 2019
Metal–organic frameworks-based catalysts for electrochemical oxygen evolution journal January 2019
Highly conductive and metallic cobalt–nickel selenide nanorods supported on Ni foam as an efficient electrocatalyst for alkaline water splitting journal January 2019
Constructing a hexagonal copper-coin-shaped NiCoSe 2 @NiO@CoNi 2 S 4 @CoS 2 hybrid nanoarray on nickel foam as a robust oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalyst journal January 2018
Recent developments of transition metal phosphides as catalysts in the energy conversion field journal January 2018
Cobalt nanoparticle-embedded nitrogen-doped carbon/carbon nanotube frameworks derived from a metal–organic framework for tri-functional ORR, OER and HER electrocatalysis journal January 2019
The oxygen evolution reaction enabled by transition metal phosphide and chalcogenide pre-catalysts with dynamic changes journal January 2019
Design strategies for developing non-precious metal based bi-functional catalysts for alkaline electrolyte based zinc–air batteries journal January 2019
Ultrasmall Co 2 P 2 O 7 nanocrystals anchored on nitrogen-doped graphene as efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction journal January 2019
A novel core–double shell heterostructure derived from a metal–organic framework for efficient HER, OER and ORR electrocatalysis journal January 2020
Nearly spherical CoP nanoparticle/carbon nanosheet hybrids: a high-performance trifunctional electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction and water splitting journal January 2019
Ni 2 P 2 O 7 microsheets as efficient Bi-functional electrocatalysts for water splitting application journal January 2019
Scalable and energy-efficient synthesis of Co x P for overall water splitting in alkaline media by high energy ball milling journal January 2020
Coupled nanocomposite Co 5.47 N–Co 3 Fe 7 inlaid in a tremella-like carbon framework as a highly efficient multifunctional electrocatalyst for oxygen transformation and overall water splitting journal January 2019
Hierarchical tri-functional electrocatalysts derived from bimetallic–imidazolate framework for overall water splitting and rechargeable zinc–air batteries journal January 2019
Iron doped cobalt phosphide ultrathin nanosheets on nickel foam for overall water splitting journal January 2019
Electronic structure modulation of bifunctional oxygen catalysts for rechargeable Zn–air batteries journal January 2020
Tunable Synthesis of CoP and CoP 2 Decorated 3D Carbon Nanohybrids and the Application of CoP 2 Decorated One in Electrochemical Detection of Chloramphenicol in Milk and Honey journal January 2018