Spatial Compartmentalization of Cobalt Phosphide in P-Doped Dual Carbon Shells for Efficient Alkaline Overall Water Splitting

Highly durable and earth-abundant bifunctional catalysts with low cell voltage are desirable for alkaline overall water splitting in the industrial fields. Herein, a novel carbon-based CoP hybrid with spatial compartmentalization of CoP nanoparticles (NPs) in P-doped dual carbon shells is achieved via a cheap Co–glycerate-template strategy. Benefitted from the uniform atomic blending of Co2+ ions in the Co–glycerate precursors, CoP NPs in situ formed in the confined space with NaH2PO2 as phosphorus source during the annealing process; meanwhile, glycerate suffered carbonization and transformed into P-doped dual carbon shells during the annealing process, including interior thin carbon coating, closely encircled CoP NP, and peripheral hollow carbon sphere loading a lot of CoP NPs. Not only does spatial compartmentalization of CoP NPs avoid the aggregation and expose more active sites but also P-doped dual carbon shells improve the conductivity and durability of the catalyst. As expected, the optimized hybr...