Self-supported ternary Co_0.5Mn_0.5P/carbon cloth (CC) as a high-performance hydrogen evolution electrocatalyst

Scalable production of earth-abundant, easy-to-prepare, and cost-effective electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is essential for sustainable energy-based systems. Herein, we systematically studied the electrocatalytic HER performance of a self-supported ternary Co_0.5Mn_0.5P/carbon cloth (CC) nanomaterial prepared using a hydrothermal reaction and phosphorization process. Electrochemical tests demonstrated that the ternary Co_0.5Mn_0.5P/CC nanomaterial could be a highly active electrocatalyst in acidic media, with overpotentials of only 41 and 89 mV, affording current densities of 10 and 100 mA·cm^-2, respectively, and a Tafel slope of 41.7 mV·dec^-1. Furthermore, the electrocatalyst exhibited superior stability, with 3, 000 cycles of cyclic voltammetry from -0.2 to 0.2 V at a scan rate of 100 mV·s^-1 and 40 h of static polarization at a fixed overpotential of 83 mV, indicating its potential for large-scale hydrogen production.