Structure engineering of Ni2P by Mo doping for robust electrocatalytic water and methanol oxidation reactions

Abstract

Abstract Structure engineering via foreign element doping is an efficient method to modulate the electronic and crystalline structures of electrocatalysts. Herein, regulating the crystalline structure and electronic configuration of Ni2P was proposed and realized by introducing foreign Mo element to reinforce the catalytic property for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). Doping high-valence Mo created more structural defects as the catalytic sites and regulated d-band structure of Ni with higher oxidation state for better adsorption of oxygen intermediates. As the result, electrochemical performances suggested the great improvement in OER and MOR in alkali for Mo-doped Ni2P with lower overpotentials and higher current densities, more active Ni sites and better conductivity, as compared with undoped Ni2P. Therefore, the regulation of structure and improvement in electrocatalytic activity demonstrated that this highly-efficient Mo-doped Ni2P is expected as a robust electrocatalyst for practical applications of water splitting and methanol fuel cell.