ABSTRACT
The research for efficient and low-cost electrocatalysts for water splitting are essential for the exploitation and application of hydrogen energy. Transitional metal phosphides are considered as one of the most promising bifunctional water splitting electrocatalysts. Herein, we reported a facile two-step method (firstly hydrothermal preparation, then phosphorization under low temperature) to synthesize the bead-chain like nanoarrays of CoP supported on three dimensional Nickel foam (CoP/NF). The as-prepared CoP/NF could act as an efficient bifunctional catalyst for overall water splitting. The catalyst exhibited remarkable activity for both the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline media,delivering a current density of 10 mA/cm2at an overpotential of 281 mV for OER and 95 mV for HER, respectively. Efficient water splitting in alkaline system was realized by applying a two-electrode system with the CoP/NF acting as both the anode and cathode. The applied potential was 1.63 V to obtain the current density of 10 mA/cm2,and good stability was also testified.