Nanoarchitectured porous Cu-CoP nanoplates as electrocatalysts for efficient oxygen evolution reaction

Transition metal phosphide electrocatalysts have shown tremendous potential for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, we develop Cu-CoP porous nanoplates through polyethylenimine assisted hydrothermal process and subsequent phosphidation treatment. The incorporation of Cu in cobalt phosphide enhances the density of active sites, as well as facilitates fast charge transfer, and hence boosts the OER activity. The Cu-CoP reveals efficient electrocatalytic activity and stability toward the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), with a low overpotential of 252 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2. The post-OER analysis of electrocatalysts confirms that the phosphate modified Cu-CoOOH nanoplates generate on the catalyst surface during the OER process could perform as the active catalyst and improve the OER activity. This work demonstrates the influence of the role of Cu incorporation on structural, morphological and electrocatalytic performance of cobalt phosphide.