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Nano Research 2023, 16(5): 6057-6066 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4676-9
Research Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 20 July 2022

Cobalt-iron oxide/black phosphorus nanosheet heterostructure: Electrosynthesis and performance of (photo-)electrocatalytic oxygen evolution

Show Author's Information Man Zhao1,§,  Xiaoru Cheng1,§,  He Xiao1( ),  Jianru Gao1,  Shoufeng Xue1,  Xiaoxia Wang1,  Haishun Wu1,  Jianfeng Jia1( ),  Nianjun Yang2( )
Key Laboratory of Magnetic Molecules & Magnetic Information Materials Ministry of Education, The School of Chemical and Material Science, Shanxi Normal University, Taiyuan 030000, China
Institute of Materials Engineering, University of Siegen, Siegen 57076, Germany

§ Man Zhao and Xiaoru Cheng contributed equally to this work.

Keywords:
black phosphorus, cobalt oxide, iron oxide, oxygen evolution reaction, electrosynthesis
Topics:
Oxygen evolution reaction
Cite this article:
Zhao M, Cheng X, Xiao H, et al. Cobalt-iron oxide/black phosphorus nanosheet heterostructure: Electrosynthesis and performance of (photo-)electrocatalytic oxygen evolution. Nano Research, 2023, 16(5): 6057-6066. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4676-9
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Highly active, stable, and cut-price (photo-)electrocatalysts are desired to overwhelm high energy barriers for anodic oxygen evolution reaction processes. Herein, a heterostructure of cobalt-iron oxide/black phosphorus nanosheets is in-situ synthesized via a facile and novel three-electrode electrolysis method. Bulky black phosphorus is exfoliated into its nanosheets at the cathode while the CoFe oxide is derived directly from the metal wire anode during the electrolysis process. This heterostructure exhibits excellent electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance, and the overpotential at 10 mA·cm−2 is 51 mV lower than that of the commercial RuO2 catalyst. Its superior OER performance stems from the favorable adsorption behavior and an enlarged electrochemical active surface area of the catalyst. To reveal the origin of excellent OER performance from the point of adsorption strength of OH*, methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) test is applied under the identified OER operating conditions. Further introduction of light illumination enhances the OER activity of this heterostructure. The overpotential drops down to 280 mV, benefiting from pronounced photochemical response of black phosphorus nanosheets and iron oxide inside the heterostructure. This work develops a new electrochemical method to construct high performance and light-sensitive heterostructures from black phosphorus nanosheets for the OER.


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About this article

Cobalt-iron oxide/black phosphorus nanosheet heterostructure: Electrosynthesis and performance of (photo-)electrocatalytic oxygen evolution

Show Author's information Man Zhao1,§, Xiaoru Cheng1,§, He Xiao1( ), Jianru Gao1, Shoufeng Xue1, Xiaoxia Wang1, Haishun Wu1, Jianfeng Jia1( ), Nianjun Yang2( )
Key Laboratory of Magnetic Molecules & Magnetic Information Materials Ministry of Education, The School of Chemical and Material Science, Shanxi Normal University, Taiyuan 030000, China
Institute of Materials Engineering, University of Siegen, Siegen 57076, Germany

§ Man Zhao and Xiaoru Cheng contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Highly active, stable, and cut-price (photo-)electrocatalysts are desired to overwhelm high energy barriers for anodic oxygen evolution reaction processes. Herein, a heterostructure of cobalt-iron oxide/black phosphorus nanosheets is in-situ synthesized via a facile and novel three-electrode electrolysis method. Bulky black phosphorus is exfoliated into its nanosheets at the cathode while the CoFe oxide is derived directly from the metal wire anode during the electrolysis process. This heterostructure exhibits excellent electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance, and the overpotential at 10 mA·cm−2 is 51 mV lower than that of the commercial RuO2 catalyst. Its superior OER performance stems from the favorable adsorption behavior and an enlarged electrochemical active surface area of the catalyst. To reveal the origin of excellent OER performance from the point of adsorption strength of OH*, methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) test is applied under the identified OER operating conditions. Further introduction of light illumination enhances the OER activity of this heterostructure. The overpotential drops down to 280 mV, benefiting from pronounced photochemical response of black phosphorus nanosheets and iron oxide inside the heterostructure. This work develops a new electrochemical method to construct high performance and light-sensitive heterostructures from black phosphorus nanosheets for the OER.

Keywords: black phosphorus, cobalt oxide, iron oxide, oxygen evolution reaction, electrosynthesis

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Publication history

Received: 05 April 2022
Revised: 26 May 2022
Accepted: 18 June 2022
Published: 20 July 2022
Issue date: May 2023

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© The Author(s) 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21571119), the Applied Basic Research Project of Shanxi Province (Nos. 201901D211393 and 201901D211398), Scientific and Technological Innovation Programs of Higher Education Institution in Shanxi (No. 2019L0466), the Graduate Education Innovation Project of Shanxi Province (No. 2021Y480), the Graduate Education Innovation Project of Shanxi Normal University (No. 2021XSY038), and 1331 Engineering of Shanxi Province.

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