Preparation of Fe–Co–P–Gr/NF Coating via Electroless Composite Plating as Efficient Electrocatalysts for Overall Water Splitting

The development of electrocatalysts with high activity and low Tafel slope for overall water splitting has become a crucial challenge to exploit the sustainable energy. Herein, we construct a Fe–Co–P–Gr catalyst on nickel foam (NF) support through electroless composite plating to realize the co-deposition of Fe–Co–P alloys and graphene quantum dots. Interestingly, graphene quantum dots exhibit obvious effects on electron mobility and active sites of Fe–Co–P–Gr/NF catalyst. In oxygen evolution reaction, the Fe–Co–P–Gr/NF catalyst exhibits a small overpotential of 230 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and fast kinetics with Tafel slope of 37.8 mV dec−1. Meanwhile, the Fe–Co–P–Gr/NF also has a superior hydrogen evolution reaction performance in 1.0 M KOH. Compared with the Fe–Co–P alloys, the Fe–Co–P–Gr/NF both as the anode and cathode require only 1.58 V to reach a current density of 10 mA cm−2. The successful preparation of Fe–Co–P–Gr/NF electrode through electroless composite deposition provides a new path to manufacture electrocatalysts for overall water splitting.