A Flexible Electrode Based on Iron Phosphide Nanotubes for Overall Water Splitting

Abstract

The design of cheap and efficient water splitting systems for sustainable hydrogen production has attracted increasing attention. A flexible electrode, based on carbon cloth substrate and iron phosphide nanotubes coated with an iron oxide/phosphate layer, is shown to catalyze overall water splitting. The as-prepared flexible electrode demonstrates remarkable electrocatalytic activity for both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at modest overpotentials. The surface iron oxide/phosphate, which is formed in situ, is proposed to improve the HER activity by facilitating the water-dissociation step and serves directly as the catalytically-active component for the OER process.

Facile synthesis of iron phosphide nanorods for efficient and durable electrochemical oxygen evolution

“…In addition, a sharp peak appears at the BE of 707.5 eV, which is the characteristic of Fe-P bonding from iron phosphide, in good agreement with previous reports. [18][19][20] As for the P 2p spectrum (Fig. 3b), two peaks at 129.8 and 134.0 eV are observed, corresponding to the low-valence P (e.g., FeP in this work) and the 2p3/2 and 2p1/2 core levels of central P atoms in phosphate species (e.g., PO4 3or P2O5), respectively.…”

The hierarchical nanowires array of iron phosphide integrated on a carbon fiber paper as an effective electrocatalyst for hydrogen generation

“…This process is analogous to that occur in the sacrificial growth of FeO(OH) nanotube using ZnO nanowire as a sacrificial template. 34 Typical SEM images of the CFP-FeP HNA are shown in the panel b to d of Figure 1. The low-magnification SEM image (Figure 1b) shows that the surface of CFP was fully covered by dense FeP HNA, and the FeP HNA grew homogeneously along the radical direction of carbon fiber.…”

Electrocatalysts for hydrogen oxidation and evolution reactions

“…10d). Wang and co-authors [68] synthesized FeP nanotube-based flexible electrodes by treating iron hydroxide nanotubes with phosphorus vapor. A current density of 10 mA cm −2 could be achieved at an overpotential of 88 mV and the catalyst is stable during a 14 h test.…”