Interfacial electronic structure modulation of CoP nanowires with FeP nanosheets for enhanced hydrogen evolution under alkaline water/seawater electrolytes

Interface engineering is an effective strategy to regulate surface properties and improve the catalytic activities of materials. Here we develop an interface engineered core-shell structure [email protected] catalyst, which only requires 50 mV to realize current density of 10 mA/cm2 with a low Tafel slope of 51.1 mV/dec in 1 M KOH. Density functional theory (DFT) simulations indicate the [email protected] interface exhibits optimal H* adsorption energy (0.06 eV) compared with pure-phased CoP (0.26 eV) and pure-phased FeP (−0.18 eV), which is attributed to the significantly electronic structure modulation of Fe and Co atoms at the interface domain. Furthermore, the assembled NiFe [email protected]3O4/NF||[email protected]/NF electrolyzer only demands the voltages of 1.50 and 1.70 V to achieve 10 and 100 mA/cm2 under 1 M KOH. The electrolyzer also exhibits considerable catalytic performance in alkaline seawater electrolyte. What's more, it also can be driven by a commercial Si solar panel under AM 1.5 G 100 mW/cm2 illumination. The regulation of interface-effect paves a novel avenue for constructing high-performance catalysts for hydrogen production.