Co₂P-Pt Heterostructure Interfaces for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution
Daniel P. Musikanth, Soonho Kwon, Zhenhua Xie, Yizhen Chen, Sooyeon Hwang, Perrin Godbold, Jingguang G. Chen, William A. Goddard III, Sen Zhang
Abstract
Pt-based electrocatalysts are effective for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER); however, their limited ability to facilitate water dissociation and suboptimal hydrogen binding energy (HBE) in alkaline electrolytes result in slow reaction kinetics, which hinders their cost-efficiency and practical applications. This study reports the synthesis of Co2P-Pt heterostructure nanorods using a seed-mediated growth method, producing a high density of Co2P-Pt interfacial sites. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that electronic interactions at these interfaces optimize HBE on Pt, while the interfacial sites promote water dissociation. The Co2P-Pt nanorods demonstrate an overpotential of 14 mV at 10 mA cm−2 for the HER, highlighting the potential of precisely engineered metal-metal phosphide interfaces for enhancing electrocatalytic efficiency.
Musikanth, D. P., Kwon, S., Xie, Z., Chen, Y., Hwang, S., Godbold, P., Chen, J. G., III, W. A. G., & Zhang, S. (2026). Co₂P-Pt Heterostructure Interfaces for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution. *ACS Catalysis*. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.6c00563