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Self-Supported Phosphorus-Doped Vertically Aligned Graphene Arrays Integrated with FeCoNiP Nanoparticles as Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Water-Splitting Over a Wide pH Range

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Abstract

Self-supported non-noble metal based bifunctional electrocatalysts with high catalytic activity and long-term stability in a wide pH range are highly essential for the production of hydrogen and oxygen, remains a great challenge. Herein, a bifunctional electrocatalyst is synthesized via electroless plating of FeCoNiP nanoparticles on self-supported phosphorus-doped vertically aligned graphene arrays (FeCoNiP/P-VG). FeCoNiP/P-VG exhibits an exceptionally high catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in a wide pH range, with an overpotential of 81 and 141 mV for HER, and 240 and 409 mV for OER, in 1.0 M KOH and 0.5 M H2SO4 respectively, at current density of 10 mA. It also performs quite low Tafel slope value of 40 mV·dec−1 for HER and 69 mV·dec−1 for OER in 1.0 M KOH. More importantly, it shows prominent stability in acidic and alkaline electrolytes. This study may open a new avenue for the design and fabrication of self-supported bifunctional electrocatalysts for water splitting.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21902127).

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This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21902127).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Earth Surface System and Environmental Carrying Capacity, College of Urban and Environmental Science, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710127, People’s Republic of China

    Zujin Yang, Keming Liang, Kaiming Guo, Xiaolin Ren & Bin Jiang

  2. Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 32000, Israel

    Firdoz Shaik

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  1. Zujin Yang
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Yang, Z., Shaik, F., Liang, K. et al. Self-Supported Phosphorus-Doped Vertically Aligned Graphene Arrays Integrated with FeCoNiP Nanoparticles as Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Water-Splitting Over a Wide pH Range. Electron. Mater. Lett. 17, 87–101 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13391-020-00260-x

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