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Mesoporous Carbon Shell Encapsulated Co/Co2P Composite for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Reaction: The Effect of Cd Initiator on its Catalytic Performance

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Abstract

Herein, a novel cadmium nitrite initiated mesoporous carbon shell encapsulated binary cobalt/cobalt phosphide (Co/Co2P@MC-(Cdx)) composites were first prepared by a facile solvothermal reaction following a phosphorization procedure. The Co/Co2P@MC-(Cd0.5), with molar ratio of Cd/Co = 0.5 in the initial feeding stock, exhibited overpotentials of as low as 99 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and small Tafel slopes of 53 mV dec−1 under 0.5 M H2SO4 conditions. Various techniques further demonstrated that the superior activity of Co/Co2P@MC-(Cd0.5) was attributed to the introduction of Cd initiator, which resulted in the mesoporisity on carbon shell and the modified electron state between the Co and Co2P. This novel Cd initiated mesoporous carbon encapsulated Co/Co2P composites hold promising potential for utilization in the hydrogen evolution from electrocatalytic water splitting.

Graphic Abstract

A novel cadmium nitrite initiated mesoporous carbon shell encapsulated binary cobalt/cobalt phosphide (Co/Co2P@MC-(Cdx)) composites were first prepared. The Co/Co2P@MC-(Cd0.5), with molar ratio of Cd/Co = 0.5 in the initial feeding stock, exhibited overpotentials of as low as 99 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and small Tafel slopes of 53 mV dec−1 under 0.5 M H2SO4 conditions. The superior activity of Co/Co2P@MC-(Cd0.5) was attributed to the introduction of Cd initiator, which resulted in the mesoporisity on carbon shell and the modified electron state between the Co and Co2P.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Scientific Foundation of China (No: 21908242), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China (No: BK20160239), the Foundation of Science and Technology Project of Xuzhou City (No: KC18063) and Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No. 2018A0303130212).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Low Carbon Energy Institute, School of Materials Science and Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221008, Jiangsu, China

    Huagen Liang, Chen Yang, Linhui Jia & Fu Chen

  2. Jiangsu Province Engineering Laboratory of High Efficient Energy Storage Technology and Equipments, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221008, Jiangsu, China

    Huagen Liang & Fu Chen

  3. Tianjin Institute of Power Sources, Tianjin, 300384, China

    Ningyi Jiang

  4. School of Chemical Engineering and Light Industry, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China

    Fenghua Tan & Xu Yang

  5. Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy, Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, People’s Republic of China

    Liangpeng Wu

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  1. Huagen Liang
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  2. Chen Yang
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  3. Linhui Jia
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  7. Xu Yang
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  8. Fu Chen
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Correspondence to Xu Yang or Fu Chen.

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Liang, H., Yang, C., Jia, L. et al. Mesoporous Carbon Shell Encapsulated Co/Co2P Composite for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Reaction: The Effect of Cd Initiator on its Catalytic Performance. Catal Lett 150, 12–20 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10562-019-02930-4

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