Built-in Electric Field of CoMoO4/CoP Heterostructure for Efficient Alkaline Seawater Hydrogen Evolution

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Direct electrolysis of seawater holds significant potential for practical hydrogen energy production. However, its effective application is hindered by the unavoidable corrosion and performance decay of catalysts during their operation in seawater with high concentrations of chloride ions. Economic non-noble catalysts with high efficiency and corrosion resistance are thus highly in demand. Herein, we successfully synthesized a heterogeneous structure of CoMoO 4 and CoP on carbon cloth (CC) (CoMoO 4 /CoP/CC), demonstrating high and stable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity in seawater. The staggered interconnected nanosheet structure of CoMoO 4 /CoP/CC will create a built-in electric field and thus facilitates interfacial electron transfer. The optimal electrocatalyst CoMoO 4 /CoP-10/CC demonstrates remarkable performance, requiring only 217.9 mV overpotentials to reach 100 mA·cm –2 in alkaline seawater. Additionally, it shows outstanding durability, remaining nonattenuated after 50 h of electrolysis at 100 mA·cm –2 . This work offers an effective avenue to develop an efficient and corrosion-resistant seawater HER electrocatalyst.