Nickel Foam-Loaded Zn/Co Bimetallic Phosphide as an Efficient Bifunctional Electrolytic Water Catalyst

A challenge persists in the creation of bifunctional electrocatalysts that are efficient, stable, and abundant for the purpose of splitting water. In this study, we successfully synthesized zinc-cobalt-phosphorus nanoflowers (Zn-Co-P/NF) on a nickel foam substrate. The flower-like morphology of these nanoflowers provides a wealth of active sites, and the bimetallic doping allows for the tuning of electron transfer to enhance catalytic activity. The prepared Zn-Co-P/NF catalyst exhibits excellent catalytic performance in both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). It achieves a current density of 10 mA·cm⁻² at overpotentials of only 110 mV for HER and 279 mV for OER. Moreover, a two-electrode electrolyzer equipped with Zn-Co-P/NF electrodes requires only 1.63 V to achieve the same current density in 1.0 M KOH solution and demonstrates excellent stability over more than 50 h of long-term operation without significant degradation. This research employs hydrothermal phosphorization techniques for the conceptualization and fabrication of high-performance, long-lasting non-precious metal phosphide bifunctional electrocatalysts.