In-situ construction of water-soluble C60 derivative modified cobalt phosphides for efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution in acidic and alkaline media

• Published in: Materials letters 2023-12, Vol.352, p.135184, Article 135184
• Main Authors: Yu, Delei, Guan, Pingli, Huang, Yi-Fei, Cheng, Yuan-Sheng, Ling, Min, Wu, Kong-Lin, Wu, Fang-Hui, Wei, Xian-Wen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cobalt phosphides; Composite materials; Electrocatalysis; Fullerenes; Hydrogen evolution reaction
• ISSN: 0167-577X; 1873-4979
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matlet.2023.135184

•Two dimensional cobalt phosphides heterostructures were obtained via a facile one-step salt template method.•Water soluble fullerene derivatives uniformly anchored on the surface of CoP-Co2P.•The electron-withdrawing property of fullerene promotes interfacial charge transfer from CoP-Co2P to C60 derivative.•The composite exhibits an enhanced HER performance both in acidic and alkaline media. A zero-dimensional water-soluble ethylenediamine-functionalized C60 derivative (C60(en)n) was used to be in-situ supported on the surface of cobalt phosphides (CoP-Co2P), forming a highly efficient heterostructured electrocatalytic catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Benefiting from the strong interfacial electronic interaction between C60(en)n and CoP-Co2P, the composite exhibits an exceptional catalytic performance with overpotentials of 129 and 117 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2, and Tafel slopes of 59 and 72 mV dec−1 in acidic and alkaline conditions, respectively.