Round-the-clock bifunctional honeycomb-like nitrogen-doped carbon-decorated Co2P/Mo2C-heterojunction electrocatalyst for direct water splitting with 18.1% STH efficiency
Pengliang Sun, Yingtang Zhou, Hongyi Li, Hua Zhang, Ligang Feng, Qiue Cao, Shixi Liu, Thomas Wågberg, Guangzhi Hu
Abstract
Hydrogen production via solar and electrochemical water splitting is a promising approach for storing solar energy and achieving a carbon-neutral economy. However, hydrogen production by photoelectric coupling remains a challenge. Here, by the cooperative coupling of heteroatoms and a heterojunction interface engineering strategy in a limited space, a honeycomb porous Co2P/Mo2[email protected] catalyst was obtained for the first time. In contrast most traditional chemical syntheses, this method maintains excellent electrical interconnections among the nanoparticles and results in large surface areas and many catalytically active sites. Theoretical calculations reveal that the construction of a heterostructure can effectively lower the hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reaction barriers as well as improve the electrical conductivity, consequently enhancing the electrochemical performance. Significantly, the overall water-splitting hydrolytic tank assembled using AsGa solar cells enabled the system to achieve a stable solar hydrogen conversion efficiency of 18.1%, which provides a new approach for facilitating large-scale hydrogen production via portable water hydrolysis driven by solar cells.