Preparation and properties of porous carbon-supported cobalt phosphide materials

Abstract In this study, the porous carbon obtained after carbonization of ZIF-67 was employed as the precursor, and three kinds of porous carbon-supported cobalt phosphide materials (CoP@C-600, CoP@C-700, and CoP@C-800) were obtained after phosphidation. The catalysts were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and their electrochemical catalytic performance was tested via an electrochemical workstation. The relationship between the microstructure and the catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was investigated. The CoP@C materials prepared under different conditions all retained the dodecahedral structure of ZIF-67. Moreover, compared to Co@C materials, the transition metal phosphides CoP@C exhibited superior electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance. Among them, when the current was -10 mA/cm −2 , the overpotential of the CoP@C-600 material was -0.25 V, and its catalytic activity was higher than the other CoP@C materials.