Modulating electronic structure of cobalt phosphide porous nanofiber by ruthenium and nickel dual doping for highly-efficiency overall water splitting at high current density

The rational design and construction of high-efficiency bifunctional electrocatalysts are the central challenges for improving the overall water splitting efficiency. In this paper, Ru and Ni dual-metal doped CoP (Ru, Ni-CoP) porous nanofibers were fabricated. Dual-metal doping can be more efficiently used to modulate the electronic structure than single-metal doping, thereby, achieving decreased water dissociation energy and optimized adsorption energy for different reaction intermediates. Consequently, Ru, Ni-CoP porous nanofibers exhibit highly enhanced bifunctional activities. The electrolytic cell based on Ru, Ni-CoP porous nanofibers, which is significantly superior to Pt/C||IrO2 pairs, requires a low voltage of 1.448 and 1.757 V at 10 and 500 mA cm-2, respectively. The electrolytic cell exhibits excellent long-term stability at 400 mA cm-2. This excellent activity and stability at high-current density provides the considerable potential for the practical applications of Ru, NiCoP porous nanofibers as high-performance bifunctional electrocatalysts.