Promoting the Phosphidation Process using an Oxygen Vacancy Precursor for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

Based on previous works, most of the transition metal phosphides (TMPs) were directly prepared by decomposing NaH 2 PO 2 with the precursors at high temperatures, which resulted in different degrees of phosphidation in the final product. Therefore, it is necessary to design an innovative approach to enhance the degree of phosphidation in the material using crystal defects. Here, oxygenvacancy iron oxide/iron foam (Ov-Fe 2 O 3 /IF) was firstly prepared by generating oxygen vacancy in situ in an iron foam through heating in vacuum conditions. Subsequently, FeP/IF was formed by phosphating Ov-Fe 2 O 3 /IF. Under the effects of oxygen vacancies, oxygen-vacancy iron oxide could be completely phosphatized to produce more active sites on the surface of the material. This, in turn, could result in a catalyst with exceptional hydrogen evolution activity. Thus, the successful fabrication of FeP/IF demonstrated in this work provides an effective and feasible way for the preparation of other high-efficiency catalysts.

P-Doped NiMn2O4 Hollow Tubular Nanofiber Spinel Composites for Electrocatalytic Dechlorination

“…The typical mesoporous structure of the materials also helps to expose active sites and promote mass transfer . In addition, nonmetallic doping is an effective method to optimize the electrocatalytic activity. − In particular, the P element stands out among the nonmetallic modifying elements due to its larger atomic size and stronger electron-carrying capacity. Zhang et al doped P atoms as hydrogen binding sites into Fe 3 O 4 loaded on iron foam through low-temperature phosphating, thus significantly improving the supply of H intermediates and the hydrogen evolution efficiency .…”