Room-Temperature Preparation of Cobalt-Based Electrocatalysts through Simple Solution Treatment for Selectively High-Efficiency Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Alkaline or Acidic Medium

摘要

The versatile cobalt-phosphorus (Co-P) precursor was synthesized on Ni foam (NF) with an electrodeposition method. Simple room-temperature treatment of the precursor with 1?M NaOH and 0.5?M H2SO4 allows for the production of cobalt oxide nanorods (CoxOy/NF) and cobalt phosphate/phosphide (Co-Pi/CoP/NF), respectively. The resulting CoxOy/NF shows a low overpotential () of 80?mV at ?10?mA/cm2 in an alkaline electrolyte (pH?=?14) for a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) toward electrocatalytic water splitting. The Co-Pi/CoP/NF exhibits a low of 112?mV in an acidic electrolyte (pH?=?0), in which the synergy between Co (