In-situ grown of Ni2P nanoparticles on 2D black phosphorus as a novel hybrid catalyst for hydrogen evolution

Nickel phosphide-based nanomaterials have been acted as efficient catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), however, the design of novel and high performance HER catalyst is still a challenge. Herein, we report a novel 2D material black phosphorus (BP) as support for constructing Ni₂P-based hybrid catalyst by a one-pot thermal decomposition approach. TEM results indicated that the monodispersed Ni₂P nanoparticles with small size and good dispersion supported on the surface of layered BP, which implied that more catalytic active sites may be exposed for HER. The as-synthesized Ni₂P/BP hybrid exhibits high HER electrocatalytic performance with low onset overpotential (70 mV), small Tafel slope (81 mV dec^?1), large double-layer capacitance (1.24 mF cm^?2), high conductivity and good stability, which can be assigned to the strong synergistic effect between Ni₂P and BP. Therefore, BP may be a suitable support for constructing excellent catalysts in electrocatalysis.