Facilitated water dissociation by coupling bimetallic phosphide with manganese oxide to enhance alkaline hydrogen evolution

Fabricating catalysts with efficient water dissociation and robust stability is key to advancing the industrialization of the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Establishing an effective phosphide/oxide interface is a feasible way to improve the HER performance of the catalyst in an alkaline medium, but it remains challenging. Here, we adopt that manganese oxide nanoparticles decorated on nickel-cobalt phosphide nanowire array on nickel foam (MnO_x@NiCoP/NF) via a surface modification strategy that shifts the d-band center downward, promoting the water dissociation and hydrogen intermediate binding. Moreover, MnO_x makes the surface of NiCoP rougher, facilitating bubble release and improving the array stability. Consequently, MnO_x@NiCoP/NF achieves industrial current densities of 500 and 1000 mA·cm⁻² with overpotentials of 171 and 193 mV, respectively, while maintaining stable operation for over 600 h at 1000 mA·cm⁻² in 1 M KOH. Additionally, an anion exchange membrane electrolyzer with the catalyst was fabricated and shows potential for practical applications.