Metal Organic Framework Derived Cu-Doped Ni2P Nanoparticles Incorporated with Porous Carbon as High Performance Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in a Wide pH Range

The development of highly efficient and low cost electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is crucial for electrochemical water splitting, which is considered as the most promising strategy to resolve the problems caused by the overexploit and consume of fossil fuel. Herein, we report the fabrication of copper nickel bimetallic phosphide nanoparticles encapsulated within hierarchical porous carbon (CuxNi1-xP@PC) based on a bimetallic organic frameworks (BMOFs) assisted phosphorization route. The size-controlled effect of BMOFs led to the ultrafine particle sizes (average about 10 nm), which possess large active surface area and high dispersity in the final catalyst materials. Remarkably, when investigated as electrocatalysts for HER, the fabricated CuxNi1-xP@PC composites exhibited outstanding electrocatalytic activity and excellent long-term stability toward HER at all pH values. It required overpotentials of 102 and 118 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA cm(-2) in 0.5 M H2SO4 and 1.0 M KOH solution respectively, as well as Tafel slopes of 85.8 mV dec(-1) and 73.1 mV dec(-1). This work offers a promising route to explore BMOFs as precursor for the fabrication of hybrid electrocatalysts with high performance toward water splitting.