Self-optimizing, highly surface-active layered metal dichalcogenide catalysts for hydrogen evolution

Yuanyue Liu, Jingjie Wu, Ken P. Hackenberg, Jing Zhang, Y. Morris Wang, Yingchao Yang, Kunttal Keyshar, Jing Gu, Tadashi Ogitsu, Robert Vajtai, Jun Lou, Pulickel M. Ajayan, Brandon C. Wood () and Boris I. Yakobson ()
Additional contact information
Yuanyue Liu: Rice University
Jingjie Wu: Rice University
Ken P. Hackenberg: Rice University
Jing Zhang: Rice University
Y. Morris Wang: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Yingchao Yang: Rice University
Kunttal Keyshar: Rice University
Jing Gu: San Diego State University
Tadashi Ogitsu: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Robert Vajtai: Rice University
Jun Lou: Rice University
Pulickel M. Ajayan: Rice University
Brandon C. Wood: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Boris I. Yakobson: Rice University

Nature Energy, 2017, vol. 2, issue 9, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Low-cost, layered transition-metal dichalcogenides (MX2) based on molybdenum and tungsten have attracted substantial interest as alternative catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). These materials have high intrinsic per-site HER activity; however, a significant challenge is the limited density of active sites, which are concentrated at the layer edges. Here we unravel electronic factors underlying catalytic activity on MX2 surfaces, and leverage the understanding to report group-5 MX2 (H-TaS2 and H-NbS2) electrocatalysts whose performance instead mainly derives from highly active basal-plane sites, as suggested by our first-principles calculations and performance comparisons with edge-active counterparts. Beyond high catalytic activity, they are found to exhibit an unusual ability to optimize their morphology for enhanced charge transfer and accessibility of active sites as the HER proceeds, offering a practical advantage for scalable processing. The catalysts reach 10 mA cm−2 current density at an overpotential of ∼50–60 mV with a loading of 10–55 μg cm−2, surpassing other reported MX2 candidates without any performance-enhancing additives.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nenergy2017127 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natene:v:2:y:2017:i:9:d:10.1038_nenergy.2017.127

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/nenergy/

DOI: 10.1038/nenergy.2017.127

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Energy is currently edited by Fouad Khan

More articles in Nature Energy from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().