Recently, a research team led by Prof. LI Yue working with Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science has revealed that the synthesized Mo doped Ni₂P nanowire arrays showed excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance at all pH Values.

With the rapidly increasing demands for energy resource and increased concern over environmental pollution, many scientists are seeking to find clean alternatives as energy carrier, such as H₂.

In the joint work, researchers demonstrate for the first time the successful synthesis of Mo-Ni₂P nanowires (NWs) on a conductive Ni foam (NF) from NiMoO₄ nanowire arrays precursor via a topotactic phosphidation conversion reaction.

In their work, the effect of Mo atom on the Ni₂P toward HER performance in different pH condition was investigated.

They found that such Mo-Ni₂P NWs/NF can be directly used as a working electrode and displayed a small overpotential of 78 mV to reach 10 mA cm^-2 and long-time durability (>24 h) in 1 M KOH, which is superior to the most Co and Fe doped binary transition metal phosphides. They also exhibited excellent catalytic activity and stability toward neutral and acidic solutions.

In summary, the present work provides a valuable route for the design and synthesis of inexpensive and efficient all-pH HER electrocatalysts.

The findings were published online in Nanoscale entitled Mo doped Ni₂P Nanowire Arrays: An Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction with Enhanced Activity at All pH Values and was selected the cover picture.

This investigation was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51371165, 51571189), Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 1508085JGD07), Cross-disciplinary Collaborative Teams Program in CAS.

Figure 1. The cover picture of the Mo-Ni₂P  NWs/NF.(Image by SUN Yiqiang)

Figure 2. The LSV curve of the Mo-Ni₂P NWs/NF for HER in (a) acidic, (b) neutral and (c) alkaline solution. (Image by SUN Yiqiang)

Contact:

LI Yue
Institute of Solid State Physics (http://english.issp.ac.cn/)
E-mail: yueli@issp.ac.cn
Tel: +86-551-65591434