Rational design of V doped CoP/Ni2P heterostructural catalysts for highly efficient ethanol electrolysis

Ethanol-assisted overall water splitting (EOR||HER) as a promising hydrogen production technology not only achieves energy-saving hydrogen production but also produces high value-added chemical. The V doped CoP (VCoP)/Ni2P catalyst was synthesized by hydrothermal, electrodeposition and chemical vapor deposition methods. Benefiting from the electron coupling effect caused by electron transfer at the interface, V-CoP/Ni2P catalyst shows the excellent catalytic activity for both EOR and HER. V-CoP/Ni2P requires a small overpotential of 61.4 mV to obtain a current density of 10 mA cm-2 for HER. During the EOR process, V-CoP/Ni2P only demands a potential of 1.391 V to drive a current density of 100 mA cm-2. More importantly, an ethanol-assisted water electrolysis device using V-CoP/Ni2P as both cathode and anode shows a low voltage of 1.673 V at 100 mA cm-2.