Cobalt phthalocyanine as an efficient catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

Hydrogen production from water splitting is highly desired for the green and clean energy device but remains a great challenge. In this regard, cobalt-phthalocyanine (PyCoPc) and composite of PyCoPc with graphene oxide (GO) were fabricated and used as catalyst for the energy conversion. The as-synthesized PyCoPc/GO exhibits an efficient hydrogen evolution reaction due to the low overpotential ~253 mV at a 10 mA cm−2 current density with a Tafel slope ~96 mV dec−1 in alkaline media. Our study reveals that the active area of the catalyst was controlled with the help of π−π stacking interaction between GO and PyCoPc. Technologically, a highly efficient PyCoPc catalyst was developed for hydrogen evolution reaction.