A cost effective hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst that does not use precious metallic elements is a crucial demand for environment-benign energy production. The family of earth-abundant transition metal compounds of nitrides, carbides, chalcogenides, and phosphides is one of the promising candidates for such a purpose, particularly in acidic conditions. However, its catalytic performance is still needed to be enhanced through novel material designs and crystalline engineering. Herein, a chemically and electronically coupled transition metal phosphosulfide/N-doped carbon nanotubes (NCNT) hybrid electrocatalyst is fabricated via a two-step synthesis. The uniquely designed synthesis leads to the material morphology featuring a core–shell structure, in which the crystalline metal phosphide core is surrounded by<br/>an amorphous phosphosulfide nanoshell. Notably, due to the favorable modification of chemical composition and surface properties, core–shell CoP@PS/NCNT exhibits the noticeable HER activity of approximately − 80 mV @ − 10 mA cm−2  with excellent durability, which is one of the highest active nonnoble metal electrocatalysts ever reported thus far.

High activity hydrogen evolution catalysis by uniquely designed amorphous/metal interface of core–shell phosphosulfide/N-doped CNTs

256th National Meeting (2018)

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