Metal–organic framework-derived integrated nanoarrays for overall water splitting

Abstract

Earth-abundant electrocatalysts for both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in a wide pH range are highly desirable for sustainable energy conversion technologies, but challenging to develop. Herein, we report hollow CoP nanosphere-embedded carbon nanotube/nitrogen-doped carbon (NC-CNT/CoP) nanoarrays, in which a nanoscale Kirkendall effect generates few-layer graphene-coated hollow CoP nanospheres with abundant active sites. The integrated NC-CNT/CoP electrode behaves as an efficient pH-universal HER catalyst and, through in situ transformation, the derived materials show excellent OER performance. The NC-CNT/CoP-based electrolyzers achieve a current density of 10 mA cm⁻² at low voltages of 1.63, 1.69, and 1.66 V in KOH, PBS, and H₂SO₄, respectively, which are similar to the values obtained using noble metal catalysts. Importantly, the integrated electrode exhibits superior stability than that of the benchmark noble metals in a wide pH range. This work presents a promising method for achieving nonprecious catalysts for efficient energy conversion.