Enabling high loading of well-dispersed Ni₂CoP₂ catalysts on a 3D-printed electrode for efficient electrocatalysis

The loadings of well-dispersed non-noble catalysts on traditional electrocatalytic electrodes are far below the commercial loading requirement of more than 10 mg cm(-2), resulting in poor electrocatalytic performance. Herein, 20.3 mg cm(-2) of well-dispersed Ni2CoP2 catalysts were successfully loaded on a 3D-printed graphene/carbon nanotube (3DP GC)-thick electrode, which demonstrates a large linear improvement in urea oxidation reaction (UOR) performances compared to the low loadings of Ni2CoP2 catalysts on 3DP GC thin electrodes. As a result, the 18-layer 3DP GC/Ni2CoP2 electrode demonstrates the low potential of 1.31 V to reach a current density of 10 mA cm(-2) for the alkaline UOR, which is much better than those demonstrated by traditional electrodes, such as carbon paper, carbon cloth, and nickel foam with the same Ni2CoP2 loading. This work paves the way for realizing the high loading of various well-dispersed catalysts on electrodes for high-performance electrocatalysis at low potentials.