The development of earth-abundant and durable electrocatalyts with high activity is important to realize efficient overall water splitting. Herein, we report the design and fabrication of a bifunctional catalyst of NiCoP nanopeapods embedded in carbon nanotube arrays (NiCoP nanopeapods/CNTs) for overall water splitting. The unique nanopeapods structure and synergistic effect between the bimetallic phosphides and carbon nanotubes provide them excellent bifunctional electroactivity and structural stability. Specifically, the NiCoP nanopeapod/CNT electrode requires an overpotential of 82 mV and 250 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA cm⁻² in 1 M KOH medium for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), respectively. Moreover, the NiCoP nanopeapods/CNTs are used as both the cathode and anode for an alkaline electrolyzer, which only requires a cell voltage of 1.558 V at 10 mA cm⁻², which is superior to most of the non-precious metal catalysts for water splitting.

开发具有高活性的富含地球和持久性的电催化剂对于实现有效的总水分解非常重要。在这里，我们报告设计和制造的NiCoP纳米豆荚的双功能催化剂嵌入碳纳米管阵列（NiCoP纳米豆荚/ CNTs）的整体水分解。双金属磷化物和碳纳米管之间独特的纳米豆脚结构和协同作用为其提供了出色的双功能电活性和结构稳定性。具体而言，NiCoP纳米豆荚/ CNT电极需要82 mV和250 mV的过电势才能达到10 mA cm ^-2的电流密度在1 M KOH介质中分别用于氢气释放反应（HER）和氧气释放反应（OER）。而且，NiCoP纳米豆/ CNTs既用作碱性电解槽的阴极又用作阳极，它仅需要10 mA cm ^-2的电池电压为1.558 V ，这比大多数用于水的非贵金属催化剂优越分裂。