Self‐assembly Mesoporous FeP Film with High Porosity for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

• Published in: ChemCatChem 2020-05, Vol.12 (9), p.2589-2594
• Main Authors: Zhang, Cong, Xia, Maosheng S., Liu, Zhipeng P., Huang, Guoqing Q., Yuan, Shisheng S., Ai, Jing, Li, Nan, Li, Xiaotian T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cloth; Coated electrodes; Electrocatalysts; Electrolysis; Evaporation-induced self-assembly; Hydrogen evolution reaction; Hydrogen evolution reactions; Iron phosphide; Mesoporous structure; Nanoparticles; Noble metals; Phosphides; Pore size distribution; Porosity; Water splitting
• ISSN: 1867-3880; 1867-3899
• DOI: 10.1002/cctc.202000123

Exploring efficient noble metal‐free electrocatalysts is of significance for water electrolysis. In this work, we fabricated a high‐efficiency self‐supporting electrode with mesoporous FeP film coated on carbon cloth (meso‐FeP film/CC) for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Compared with nanoparticle‐stacked disordered porous structure, the ordered mesoporous iron phosphide film exhibits high porosity as high as 2.3×1017 site per mg, as well as small pore size and uniform pore distribution, which enables the exposure of abundant active sites. Moreover, the self‐supporting structure with enhanced conductivity further optimizes its electrocatalytic performance towards the HER. As a result, the meso‐FeP film/CC displays a low overpotential (65 mV at current density of 10 mA cm−2) and a small Tafel slope (44 mV dec−1) in acid condition, which is competitive among most of noble‐metal free electrocatalysts. Ordered mesoporous FeP film with high porosity was prepared by evaporation‐induced self‐assembly process followed by phosphidation reaction. Its highly porous structure provides abundant active sites, which enables it efficient electrocatalyst towards the hydrogen evolution reaction.