Nearly spherical CoP nanoparticle/carbon nanosheet hybrids: a high-performance trifunctional electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction and water splitting.

Developing active multifunctional electrocatalysts composed of earth-abundant and cheap elements is an urgent demand in energy conversion applications. This study presents a facile approach for the scalable synthesis of nanostructured cobalt phosphide embedded in carbon nanosheets (CoP NPs/CNSs). The hybrid structures show highly efficient trifunctional electrocatalytic activities toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under alkaline condition.