Molybdenum phosphide as an efficient electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Peng Xiao, Mahasin Alam Sk, Larissa Thia, Xiaoming Ge, Rern Jern Lim, Jing-Yuan Wang, Kok Hwa Lim, Xin Wang

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

1198 Citations (Scopus)
24 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

Electrochemical production of hydrogen from water has been directed to the search for non-noble metal based and earth-abundant catalysts. In this work, we propose a novel cost-effective catalyst, molybdenum phosphide that exhibits high activity towards the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in both acid and alkaline media even in bulk form. Comparative analysis of Mo, Mo3P and MoP as catalysts for HER clearly indicates that phosphorization can potentially modify the properties of the metal and different degrees of phosphorization lead to distinct activities and stabilities. Theoretical calculations by density functional theory also show that a simple phosphorization of molybdenum to form MoP introduces a good 'H delivery' system which attains nearly zero binding to H at a certain H coverage. With the combination of experimental results and theoretical calculations, this work has enlightened a new way of exploring cost-effective catalysts for HER. This journal is © the Partner Organisations 2014.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2624-2629
JournalEnergy and Environmental Science
Volume7
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2014
Externally publishedYes

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