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Exploiting high-performance, low-cost, and robust bifunctional catalysts toward electrochemical water splitting is of great importance, but remains challenging. Herein, a novel hybrid electrocatalyst of Ni–Fe–Ru-based phosphide heterostructures directly grown on nickel foam (Ni2P–Fe2P–Ru2P/NF) is synthesized by a simple two-step strategy. When assessed as a bifunctional catalyst toward the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the resultant Ni2P–Fe2P–Ru2P/NF electrode shows remarkable electrocatalytic performance and long-time durability in alkaline electrolytes due to the collaborative contributions of abundant heterointerfaces, good conductivity, and 3D porous architecture. As expected, to afford a current density of 10 mA cm−2, the as-prepared Ni2P–Fe2P–Ru2P/NF merely requires low overpotentials of 195 and 78.6 mV for the OER and HER, respectively, comparable to most bifunctional electrocatalysts reported to date. The Ni2P–Fe2P–Ru2P/NF//Ni2P–Fe2P–Ru2P/NF electrolyzer demonstrates a low voltage of 1.49 V for 10 mA cm−2 along with excellent stability, exceeding that of Pt–C/NF//IrO2/NF (1.64 V). Furthermore, the H2 generation driven by commercial solar cells is evaluated to stimulate practical applications in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rational design of efficient, low-cost, and durable electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in various pH media is highly desirable but remains challenging. Herein, for the first time, we present a novel hybrid of ruthenium diphosphide encapsulated in P-doped porous carbon (denoted as RuP2@PC) utilizing metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) as templates by a multi-step strategy. Unexpectedly, benefitting from the synergistic contribution of highly dispersed ultrafine RuP2 nanoparticles, porous carbon skeleton, and P-dopant, the as-synthesized RuP2@PC exhibits exceptional catalytic activity and superior durability as pH-universal electrocatalysts for the HER. Particularly, a low overpotential of 78.9 mV to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm−2 and a small Tafel slope of 36.7 mV dec−1 can be achieved in 1.0 M KOH toward the HER. Such outstanding electrocatalytic properties exceed those of commercial Pt/C and rank the catalyst among the best HER electrocatalysts reported until now. Importantly, this work paves a new route in elaborately fabricating efficient and stable electrocatalysts based on MOFs for energy-related fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N,P-codoped porous carbon hollow nanosphere confining ultrafine molybdenum carbide nanoparticles are designed and prepared through a facile method. By virtue of the distinct composite and structure advantages, the resulting composite shows significantly enhanced electrocatalytic performance toward the hydrogen evolution reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrafine Ru nanoparticles dispersed on 3D N-doped carbon hollow nanospheres were firstly prepared by a feasible templating strategy. Due to the synergistic effect of the unique composite and structure, the resulting nanocomposite as a HER catalyst shows extraordinary electrocatalytic performance, superior to that of commercial Pt–C and most previously reported electrocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N,P-codoped porous carbon hollow nanosphere confining ultrafine molybdenum carbide nanoparticles are designed and prepared through a facile method. By virtue of the distinct composite and structure advantages, the resulting composite shows significantly enhanced electrocatalytic performance toward the hydrogen evolution reaction.