Highly Ordered Mesoporous Bimetallic Phosphides as Efficient Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalysts

Oxygen evolution from water using earth-abundant transition-metal-based catalysts is of importance for the commercialization of water electrolyzers. Herein, we report a hard templating method to synthesize transition metal phosphides with uniform shape and size. By virtue of the structural feature, synergistic effects among metals, and the in situ formed active species, the as-prepared phosphides with optimized composition present enhanced electrocatalytic performance toward the oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline solution. In detail, the catalyst with optimized composition reaches a current density of 10 mA/cm2 at a potential of 1.511 V vs a reversible hydrogen electrode, which is much lower than that of a commercial RuO2 catalyst. Our work offers a new strategy to optimize the catalysts for water splitting by controlling the morphology and composition.