Electrochemical water splitting is a promising technology for mass hydrogen production. Efficient, stable, and cheap electrocatalysts are keys to realizing this strategy. However, high price and preciousness of commonly used noble metal based catalysts severely hinder this realization. Herein, we report nickel iron phosphide (Ni-Fe_xP) bifunctional electrocatalyst via the in-situ growth of NiFe(OH)_x on nickel foam (NiFe(OH)_x/NF) followed by low-temperature phosphidation. As a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst, the Ni-Fe_xP/NF only needs an overpotential of 119 mV to drive a current density of −10 mA/cm² in a base media. It also shows excellent activity toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with low overpotentials of 254 mV, 267 mV, and 282 mV at 50, 100 and 200 mA/cm², respectively. Moreover, when this bifunctional catalyst is used for overall water splitting, a low cell voltage of 1.62 V is needed to deliver a current density of 10 mA/cm², which is superior to commercial electrolyzer and it also shows remarkable stability.

电化学水分解是一种用于大规模生产氢气的有前途的技术。高效，稳定和廉价的电催化剂是实现该策略的关键。然而，常用的贵金属基催化剂的高价格和贵重性严重阻碍了这一实现。本文中，我们通过在泡沫镍（Ni Fe（OH）_x / NF）上原位生长Ni Fe（OH）_x进行低温磷化，报告了磷化镍铁（Ni-Fe _x P）双功能电催化剂。作为制氢反应（HER）催化剂，Ni-Fe _x P / NF仅需要119 mV的超电势即可驱动-10 mA / cm ²的电流密度在基本媒体中。它还显示出对氧释放反应（OER）的出色活性，分别在50、100和200 mA / cm ^2时具有254 mV，267 mV和282 mV的低过电势。此外，当将该双官能催化剂用于全部水分解时，需要1.62V的低电池电压以递送10mA / cm ²的电流密度，这优于商业电解器，并且还显示出显着的稳定性。