Phytic acid-assisted hollow Fe2P/N-C nanoshuttle derived from NH2MIL: Synthesis strategy and electrochemical application for hydrogen evolution

In energy conversion issues, to boost the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), rational design and synthesis of earth-abundant transition metal phosphides-based materials as efficient electrocatalysts are of great significance. In this work, we report a facile, green and secure approach to synthesize the Fe 2 P/N doped carbon-based hollow nanoshuttles, denoted herein as NH 2 MIL-PA-900, with enhanced HER performances. The highly porous NH 2 MIL and phytic acid (PA) were carefully selected as the self-sacrificed template and etching agent to construct the hollow structure, respectively. Moreover, the in situ coordinated biocompatible PA with Fe 3+ can also be used as the phosphorus source for the metal phosphating during the subsequent high-temperature carbonization process at 900 °C. NH 2 MIL-PA-900 possesses a hollow shuttle-like nanostructure with highly dispersed Fe 2 P nanoparticles on the shell. When used as an electrocatalyst for HER, NH 2 MIL-PA-900 exhibits a low overpotential (157 mV at 10 mA cm −2 ) and a small Tafel slope (76 mV dec −1 ).