Interface engineering of Cu3P/FeP heterostructure as an enhanced electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction

Herein, a strongly coupled Cu3P/FeP heterostructure with P-doped carbon derived from MIL-101 was synthesized via a three-step method involving solvothermal, carbonization, and phosphidation processes. The Cu3P/FeP heterostructure serves as a good catalyst because it possesses abundant interfaces between Cu3P and FeP, which enables the exposure of electrocatalytically active sites and tuning of surface electronic configurations. Additionally, the presence of strong heterointerfaces between Cu3P and FeP, and the integration of the P-doped carbon guarantee the high electrical conductivity of the catalyst. Benefiting from these advantages, the Cu3P/FeP electrode exhibited outstanding electrocatalytic activity toward the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which presents a low overpotential of 315 mV to drive a current density of 10 mA cm−2 in 1.0 M KOH, thus outperforming that of the state-of-the-art RuO2. In addition, the Cu3P/FeP hybrid composite exhibited long-term stability for 50 h. This work provides a new strategy for the design and preparation of transition-metal-based heterostructures and facilitates the development of high-performance energy-related materials.