Engineering Interfacial Hydroxyl Spillover for Ultrastable High‐Current‐Density Hydrogen Evolution
ABSTRACT Stability at industrially relevant current densities remains a central challenge for transition‐metal phosphide based hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts operating in alkaline condition. To combat catalyst degradation, here the interfacial hydroxyl chemistry is regulated by robustly constructing an amorphous CoP/CeO 2− x heterostructure through a facile two‐step electrodeposition strategy. Operando Raman spectroscopy combined with density functional theory calculations reveals that oxygen‐vacancy‐rich CeO 2− x selectively captures *OH intermediates generated on Co sites, enabling efficient hydroxyl spillover away from CoP and thereby suppressing P oxidation and dissolution. The amorphous CoP framework further facilitates interfacial coupling and hydroxyl migration by providing abundant unsaturated coordination sites and dense Co/Ce interfacial contact. Benefiting from this synergistic effect, CoP/CeO 2− x delivers enhanced activity together with remarkable durability, sustaining 1 A cm −2 for over 320 h in alkaline electrolyte. When implemented as the cathode in an anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer, the catalyst operates stably for 750 h at 1 A cm −2 and 60°C with a low degradation rate of ≈52 µV h −1 . This work demonstrates the effectiveness of interfacial hydroxyl‐spillover engineering for stabilizing CoP‐based electrocatalysts under practical operating conditions.
Authors
- Shihui Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2122-3791)
- Jean‐Jacques Delaunay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2175-0620)
- Chen Qiu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5350-2571)
- Jun Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3974-2469)
- Lei Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9637-4845)
- Shihe Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0714-6320)
- Qiang Zhou
- Yong Qing
Institutions
- Bunkyo University (JP)
- Shenzhen University (CN)
- Shenzhen Bay Laboratory (CN)
- The University of Tokyo (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Functional Materials
- Published
- 2026-09-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.78132
- Primary Topic
- Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00