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Metal–metal phosphide synthesis: Selective phosphidation of Ag–Cu nanocrystals

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Abstract

The incorporation of phosphorous into metal nanoparticles can be an important way to change the material structure and catalytic properties. Colloidal synthesis, hot injection in particular, is well known for its versatility and can be an alternative approach for Janus nanomaterials’ synthesis. In this work, we show an example of the colloidal synthesis of metal–metal phosphides, by first synthesizing metal–metal nanoparticles followed by partial phosphidation, to convert Ag–Cu to Ag–Cu3P. We show that partial phosphidation of Ag–Cu nanoparticles can be achieved likewise, despite Ag incorporation increasing the stability. SEM, TEM, UV–Vis, and XPS were used to study the differences in structural, morphological' and chemical properties between Ag–Cu and Ag–Cu3P. The materials before and after phosphidation were used as electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution in 0.1 M NaOH, the onset potential of Ag–Cu3P is 200 mV smaller than Ag–Cu, and the Tafel slope reduced from 218.3 mV/dec for Ag–Cu to 146.8 mV/dec for Ag–Cu3P. In summary, we showed an alternative approach to construct Ag–Cu3P nanoparticles. And this method might be used to construct other Janus metal–metal phosphide (A-BPx, A is the metal with higher redox potential, such as Ag that tends to retain after phosphidation, and B is the metal with lower redox potential, such as Cu and Ni, Fe, Co) nanoparticles and can be useful in energy conversion applications.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

AL wishes to acknowledge financial support from the Center for Functional Materials (CFM) and the Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability at Wake Forest University. Some of the characterizations described in this manuscript was performed in part at the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (JSNN), a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant ECCS-2025462). The authors would like to thank Dr. Gayani Pathiraja for performing the TEM and STEM analysis and help from Mr. Kyle Williamson, Dr. Shobha Mantripragada from JSNN, and Dr. Chaochao Dun from Molecular Foundry for the XPS data measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, 27109, USA

    **ao Ma & Abdessadek Lachgar

  2. Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (CEES), Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, 27109, USA

    **ao Ma & Abdessadek Lachgar

  3. Center for Functional Materials (CFM), Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, 27109, USA

    **ao Ma & Abdessadek Lachgar

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  1. **ao Ma
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Ma, X., Lachgar, A. Metal–metal phosphide synthesis: Selective phosphidation of Ag–Cu nanocrystals. MRS Advances 8, 1010–1016 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43580-023-00604-3

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