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Synthesis of Co2P and Ni2P nanoplates via cation exchange reaction for efficient oxygen evolution reaction
Nano Research 2025, 18(6): 94907454
Published: 09 June 2025
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Cation exchange has emerged as a powerful and versatile synthetic strategy for fabricating colloidal nanocrystals with tunable compositions and structures. While extensively studied in transition metal sulfides and selenides, its application to transition metal phosphides (TMPs) remains largely unexplored. Here, we report the first successful cation exchange synthesis of Co2P and Ni2P nanoplatelets (NPLs) using Cu3P NPLs as templates. The study demonstrates that the hexagonal phosphorus framework of Cu3P remains largely intact during the transformation to orthorhombic Co2P, preserving the original NPL morphology. However, the synthesis of hexagonal Ni2P NPLs leads to significant morphological distortions, highlighting structural differences in anionic frameworks between Cu3P and Ni2P. Partial cation exchange further enabled the formation of heterostructured Co2P-Cu3P and Ni2P-Cu3P NPLs with adjustable compositions. The synthesized Co2P and Ni2P NPLs were evaluated as electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline conditions, with Co2P demonstrating outstanding performance, achieving an overpotential of 270 mV and a Tafel slope of 60.4 mV·dec−1 at 10 mA·cm−2, along with remarkable long-term stability. These findings establish cation exchange as a viable strategy for synthesizing TMP nanocrystals with controlled composition and morphology, expanding the design space for next-generation electrocatalysts.

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