Phosphorus-induced activation of Ir metallene for efficient acidic overall water electrolysis

Abstract

In this work, we synthesize P-doped Ir metallene (P–Ir metallene) with rich defects as a highly active bifunctional catalyst towards the hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reaction, requiring overpotentials of 28 and 279 mV to drive 10 mA cm⁻² in 0.5 M H₂SO₄, respectively. Moreover, P–Ir metallene exhibits excellent electrocatalytic performance for overall water splitting, producing hydrogen at 10 mA cm⁻² with a low operation voltage of 1.508 V. This study proposes the incorporation of phosphorus into noble metals to improve the electrocatalytic performance for water splitting.