Sugar Blowing-Induced Porous Cobalt Phosphide/Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanostructures with Enhanced Electrochemical Oxidation Performance toward Water and Other Small Molecules

Rational design of high active and robust nonprecious metal catalysts with excellent catalytic efficiency in oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is extremely vital for making the water splitting process more energy efficient and economical. Among these noble metal-free catalysts, transition-metal-based nanomaterials are considered as one of the most promising OER catalysts due to their relatively low-cost intrinsic activities, high abundance, and diversity in terms of structure and morphology. Herein, a facile sugar-blowing technique and low-temperature phosphorization are reported to generate 3D self-supported metal involved carbon nanostructures, which are termed as Co₂ P@Co/nitrogen-doped carbon (Co₂ P@Co/N-C). By capitalizing on the 3D porous nanostructures with high surface area, homogeneously dispersed active sites, the intimate interaction between active sites, and 3D N-doped carbon, the resultant Co₂ P@Co/N-C exhibits satisfying OER performance superior to CoO@Co/N-C, delivering 10 mA cm^-2 at overpotential of 0.32 V. It is worth noting that in contrast to the substantial current density loss of RuO₂ , Co₂ P@Co/N-C shows much enhanced catalytic activity during the stability test and a 1.8-fold increase in current density is observed after stability test. Furthermore, the obtained Co₂ P@Co/N-C can also be served as an excellent nonprecious metal catalyst for methanol and glucose electrooxidation in alkaline media, further extending their potential applications.