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Engineering the Electronic Structure of 2D WS 2 Nanosheets Using Co Incorporation as Co x W (1‐ x ) S 2 for Conspicuously Enhanced Hydrogen Generation
Author(s) -
Shifa Tofik Ahmed,
Wang Fengmei,
Liu Kaili,
Xu Kai,
Wang Zhenxing,
Zhan Xueying,
Jiang Chao,
He Jun
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201601168
Subject(s) - overpotential , tafel equation , ternary operation , materials science , cobalt , catalysis , electrolysis , reversible hydrogen electrode , electrocatalyst , transition metal , hydrogen , density functional theory , water splitting , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , chemistry , electrode , electrochemistry , computational chemistry , computer science , organic chemistry , reference electrode , electrolyte , engineering , metallurgy , programming language , biochemistry , photocatalysis
Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), as one of potential electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), have been extensively studied. Such TMD‐based ternary materials are believed to engender optimization of hydrogen adsorption free energy to thermoneutral value. Theoretically, cobalt is predicted to actively promote the catalytic activity of WS 2 . However, experimentally it requires systematic approach to form Co x W (1− x ) S 2 without any concomitant side phases that are detrimental for the intended purpose. This study reports a rational method to synthesize pure ternary Co x W (1− x ) S 2 nanosheets for efficiently catalyzing HER. Benefiting from the modification in the electronic structure, the resultant material requires overpotential of 121 mV versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) to achieve current density of 10 mA cm −2 and shows Tafel slope of 67 mV dec −1 . Furthermore, negligible loss of activity is observed over continues electrolysis of up to 2 h demonstrating its fair stability. The finding provides noticeable experimental support for other computational reports and paves the way for further works in the area of HER catalysis based on ternary materials.