Modulated Co–P bond via ruthenium doping to facilitate spearhead-like CoPx for overall water splitting

The creation of affordable, long-lasting, and effective electrocatalysts is a significant research issue in the area of water splitting. In this work, Ru-modified CoPx spearhead on nickel foam (Ru-CoPx/NF) is fabricated by simple hydrothermal, impregnation and subsequent low-temperature phosphorization process. The incorporation of Ru into the Co-P structure enables the effective reconstruction of the electronic coordination environment. The Ru-CoPx/NF catalyst performs well for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), achieving a current density of 10 mA cm−2 with low overpotentials of 41 mV and outstanding stability in 1 M KOH. Furthermore, the produced CoPx/NF has low overpotential of 280 mV, allowing 10 mA cm−2 for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in 1 M KOH. In addition, the developed asymmetric Ru-CoPx/NF||CoPx/NF electrolyzer could drive 10 mA cm−2 in alkaline electrolyte with a low cell voltage of 1.51 V. Surprisingly, water-splitting may be efficiently by renewable energy sources, presenting a viable strategy for lowering the cost of creating hydrogen energy.