A phosphorus-doped carbon sphere supported CoP nanocatalyst for electrochemical hydrogen evolution

Cobalt phosphide (CoP) is a promising substitute for precious platinum as a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalyst owing to its semi-metallic properties and favorable adsorption and desorption activity for hydrogen. In this work, we design a facile and simple method for the preparation of homogeneously dispersed CoP nanoparticles with carbon spheres (CSs) as the support. Due to the good dispersion of CoP, in situ doping of phosphorus in CSs and the good electrical conductivity of the support, the prepared CoP/CSs-0.05 catalyst exhibits superior HER electrocatalytic performance with a low onset overpotential of 34 mV and an overpotential of 94 mV to afford a current density of 10 mA cm−2 in 0.5 M H2SO4.