Electrospun Carbon Nanofibers Encapsulated with NiCoP: A Multifunctional Electrode for Supercapattery and Oxygen Reduction, Oxygen Evolution, and Hydrogen Evolution Reactions

Abstract

Functionalizing nanostructured carbon nanofibers (CNFs) with bimetallic phosphides enables the material to become an active electrode for multifunctional applications. A facile electrospinning technique is utilized for the first time to develop NiCoP nanoparticles encapsulated CNFs that are used as an energy storage system of supercapattery, and as an electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction, oxygen evolution, and hydrogen evolution reaction in KOH electrolyte. Evolving from the inclusion of bimetallic phosphide nanoparticles, the NiCoP/CNF electrode unveils superior-specific capacitance (333 Fg−1 at 2 Ag−1) and rate capability (87%). The fabricated supercapattery device offers a voltage of 1.6 V that supplies a remarkable energy density (36 Wh kg−1) along with an improved power density (4000 W kg−1) and unwavering cyclic stability (25 000 cycles). Meanwhile, the NiCoP/CNF electrode has simultaneously performed well as a multifunctional electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction at a half-wave potential of 0.82 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode and can attain a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at a very low overpotential of 268 and 130 mV for the oxygen evolution reaction and hydrogen evolution reaction, respectively. Thus, the NiCoP/CNF with all its inimitable electrode properties has profoundly proved its proficiency at handling multifunctional challenges in terms of both storage and conversion. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim