Ni2P@carbon core-shell nanorod array derived from ZIF-67-Ni: Effect of phosphorization temperature on morphology, structure and hydrogen evolution reaction performance

MOFs attracted considerable attention as morphology templates and constitution precursors for synthesis of multiple functional nanocomposites due to their diverse and robust framework structure. In this work, a nickel-phosphide@carbon (Ni 2 P@C) composite with unique nanorod array morphology was synthesized via a facile phosphorization process using Ni(II)-zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 (ZIF-67-Ni) as the precursor. And the effect of phosphorization temperature on the morphology and structure of the products were carefully investigated. The products obtained under different phosphorization temperature were utilized as electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The results showed that Ni 2 P@C nanorod array achieved under the phosphorization temperature of 400 °C demonstrated the highest electrocatalytic activity toward HER in 0.5 M sulfuric acid solution with a low overpotential of 186 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm −2 . Also, high catalytic durability and chemical stability of the Ni 2 P@C nanorod array for HER were achieved. Combing the morphology and structure characterization experiments, the reason for high HER performance of Ni 2 P@C nanorod array obtained at the phosphorization temperature of 400 °C was discussed. This work provides a new guidance for the synthesis of high-performance MOFs-derived electrocatalyst for electrochemical HER.