Fabrication of cobalt phosphide/nitride/carbon nanotube composite: An efficient bifunctional catalyst for hydrogen and oxygen evolution

Designing composites with rational structure and composition is a promising approach to obtain efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this study, zeolitic imidazolate frameworks-67 (ZIF-67) is employed as a self-sacrificing template to synthesize Co/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) precursor, which is subsequently in-situ nitrided and phosphorized to form cobalt phosphide/nitride/carbon nanotubes (Co2P/Co4N/CNTs) composite. The realized Co2P/Co4N composite exhibits heterogeneous nanoparticle microstucture with an average diameter of approximately 10 nm, encapsulated by carbon nanotubes with a porous dodecahedral array. Moreover, there is a well-defined interface between cobalt phosphide, cobalt nitride phases, and carbon nanotubes species. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of Co4N and Co2P, rich active sites, and high conductivity of CNTs, the composite catalyst demonstrates remarkable HER and OER activities, requiring overpotentials of 228 and 389 mV to support 100 mA cm−2 current density, respectively. This work presents a novel strategy for designing efficient bifunctional catalysts towards HER and OER.