Interfacial engineering of CoP-MoO2/NF heterojunction for high-efficient hydrogen evolution reaction coupled with 5-hydroxymethylfuran electrooxidation

Achieving efficient production of hydrogen and obtaining high value-added products can maximize energy efficiency, but challenging. Herein, a nanoarray-structured heterojunction catalyst (CoP-MoO2/NF) was proposed as a potent bifunctional electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and 5-hydroxymethylfuran oxidation reaction (HMFOR). Density Functional Theory (DFT) showed that heterojunction enhanced the adsorption of reactants on the electrocatalyst surface, the CoP-MoO2/NF exhibits excellent HER activity with an overpotential of 37 mV and a Tafel slope of 43 mV·dec−1 at 10 mA·cm−2. Also, nearly 100% HMF conversion and 98.6% FDCA selectivity demonstrate the favorable performance of the material toward HMFOR. The work here shows a way for producing hydrogen in the future that is low-cost, efficient, reliable and also adds value to the final product.