Mesoporous and heterogeneous structures together assist NiCoP/CoMoO4 in hydrogen evolution reaction

With the exacerbating energy crisis, there is an urgent need to correct the energy structure. Hydrogen can be one of the important alternative energy sources. Electrolysis of water, as an important method of hydrogen production, the preparation of inexpensive, high-performance and stable catalysts has been the focus of research. Here, mesoporous NiCoP were structucted in situ on the surface of cobalt molybdate base. The rich mesoporous structure provided abundant active sites for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Meanwhile, the heterogeneous interface of cobalt molybdate and cobalt-nickel phosphide facilitated the optimization of the adsorption and desorption of reaction intermediates through electron transfer at this interface. The overpotential was only 47 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm^‒2, while the hydrogen evolution was stable for 100 h at a current density of 50 mA cm^‒2. This study provides a new idea for the preparation of non-precious metal catalysts.