Co-Mo-P Based Electrocatalyst for Superior Reactivity in the Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
Energy efficient hydrogen production via electrochemical and/or photoelectrochemical water splitting holds significant potential for clean and sustainable energy. Toward this end, a significant amount of research has been focused on developing active earth abundant metal catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) for use in acidic and alkaline media. Here, we report an earth abundant metal-based catalyst for HER under alkaline conditions. The catalyst consisting of Co, Mo and P had a similar HER activity as the precious metal platinum under the conditions used in the study. The Co-Mo-P catalyst is amorphous and was prepared by room temperature electrodeposition. The best Co-Mo-P catalyst exhibited an overpotential of ~30–35 mV for HER at a geometrical current density of 10 mA cm -2 in an alkaline medium. An amorphous Co-Mo-P model was used to simulate the energetics of HER intermediates with density functional theory (DFT). The DFT study suggests that a Co-Mo center acts as the water-dissociation site enhancing the alkaline medium HER.