Al, P-co-doping and Interface Engineering Synergistically Boost the Electrocatalytic Performance of WS/NiS/NiS Nanosheet Heterostructure for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Overview

Journal RSC Adv

Publisher Royal Society of Chemistry

Specialty Chemistry

Date 2024 Oct 15

PMID 39403156

Authors

Mghaib Al Shahrani

Mabrook S Amer

Ahmad A Alsaleh

Prabhakarn Arunachalam

Abdullah M Al-Mayouf

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The fabrication of earth-abundant electrocatalysts capable of facilitating hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) is essential for creating sustainable hydrogen fuel by water splitting. Here, we present a one-pot hydrothermal approach for producing aluminum and phosphorus co-doped NiS/NiS/WS heterostructure hybrid frameworks on nickel foam. The optimal Al and Al, P/NiWS-b@NF catalyst exhibits high HER activity with overpotentials of 139 and 227 mV at current densities of 10 and 50 mA cm, respectively, thanks to the synergistic effect of the various constituents of the catalyst. What is more, it also exhibits a promising Tafel slope of 124 mV dec and is electrocatalytically durable for 10 hours in 0.5 M HSO solution. The high HER activity of Al, P/NiWS-b@NF could be explained by the large number of active sites of the hierarchical heterostructure and electron effects produced by the combination of interfacial and aluminum and phosphorus doping.

References

Feng L, Yu G, Wu Y, Li G, Li H, Sun Y . High-index faceted Ni3S2 nanosheet arrays as highly active and ultrastable electrocatalysts for water splitting. J Am Chem Soc. 2015; 137(44):14023-6. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5b08186. View

Yu X, Xu S, Wang Z, Wang S, Zhang J, Liu Q . Self-supported NiS@NiP/MoS heterostructures on nickel foam for an outstanding oxygen evolution reaction and efficient overall water splitting. Dalton Trans. 2021; 50(42):15094-15102. DOI: 10.1039/d1dt03023j. View

Amer M, Arunachalam P, Al-Mayouf A, Alsaleh A, Almutairi Z . Bifunctional vanadium doped mesoporous CoO on nickel foam towards highly efficient overall urea and water splitting in the alkaline electrolyte. Environ Res. 2023; 236(Pt 2):116818. DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116818. View

Zhai P, Zhang Y, Wu Y, Gao J, Zhang B, Cao S . Engineering active sites on hierarchical transition bimetal oxides/sulfides heterostructure array enabling robust overall water splitting. Nat Commun. 2020; 11(1):5462. PMC: 7596725. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19214-w. View

Gu Y, Wu A, Jiao Y, Zheng H, Wang X, Xie Y . Two-Dimensional Porous Molybdenum Phosphide/Nitride Heterojunction Nanosheets for pH-Universal Hydrogen Evolution Reaction. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2020; 60(12):6673-6681. DOI: 10.1002/anie.202016102. View

Guo X, Ji J, Jiang Q, Zhang L, Ao Z, Fan X . Few-Layered Trigonal WS Nanosheet-Coated Graphite Foam as an Efficient Free-Standing Electrode for a Hydrogen Evolution Reaction. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2017; 9(36):30591-30598. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b06613. View

Xie J, Xie Y . Transition Metal Nitrides for Electrocatalytic Energy Conversion: Opportunities and Challenges. Chemistry. 2015; 22(11):3588-98. DOI: 10.1002/chem.201501120. View

Gray H . Powering the planet with solar fuel. Nat Chem. 2011; 1(1):7. DOI: 10.1038/nchem.141. View

Stamenkovic V, Strmcnik D, Lopes P, Markovic N . Energy and fuels from electrochemical interfaces. Nat Mater. 2016; 16(1):57-69. DOI: 10.1038/nmat4738. View

10.

Fang Z, Peng L, Qian Y, Zhang X, Xie Y, Cha J . Dual Tuning of Ni-Co-A (A = P, Se, O) Nanosheets by Anion Substitution and Holey Engineering for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution. J Am Chem Soc. 2018; 140(15):5241-5247. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b01548. View

11.

Guo Y, Park T, Yi J, Henzie J, Kim J, Wang Z . Nanoarchitectonics for Transition-Metal-Sulfide-Based Electrocatalysts for Water Splitting. Adv Mater. 2019; 31(17):e1807134. DOI: 10.1002/adma.201807134. View

12.

Wang H, Xu X, Ni B, Li H, Bian W, Wang X . 3D self-assembly of ultrafine molybdenum carbide confined in N-doped carbon nanosheets for efficient hydrogen production. Nanoscale. 2017; 9(41):15895-15900. DOI: 10.1039/c7nr05500e. View

13.

Chandrasekaran S, Yao L, Deng L, Bowen C, Zhang Y, Chen S . Recent advances in metal sulfides: from controlled fabrication to electrocatalytic, photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical water splitting and beyond. Chem Soc Rev. 2019; 48(15):4178-4280. DOI: 10.1039/c8cs00664d. View

14.

You B, Sun Y . Innovative Strategies for Electrocatalytic Water Splitting. Acc Chem Res. 2018; 51(7):1571-1580. DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.8b00002. View

15.

Yang Y, Yao H, Yu Z, Islam S, He H, Yuan M . Hierarchical Nanoassembly of MoS/CoS/NiS/Ni as a Highly Efficient Electrocatalyst for Overall Water Splitting in a Wide pH Range. J Am Chem Soc. 2019; 141(26):10417-10430. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.9b04492. View

16.

Dresselhaus M, Thomas I . Alternative energy technologies. Nature. 2001; 414(6861):332-7. DOI: 10.1038/35104599. View

17.

Leong S, Mayorga-Martinez C, Chia X, Luxa J, Sofer Z, Pumera M . 2H → 1T Phase Change in Direct Synthesis of WS Nanosheets via Solution-Based Electrochemical Exfoliation and Their Catalytic Properties. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2017; 9(31):26350-26356. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b06898. View

18.

Tang K, Wang X, Li Q, Yan C . High Edge Selectivity of In Situ Electrochemical Pt Deposition on Edge-Rich Layered WS Nanosheets. Adv Mater. 2017; 30(7). DOI: 10.1002/adma.201704779. View

19.

Rehman B, Kimbulapitiya K, Date M, Chen C, Cyu R, Peng Y . Rational Design of Phase-Engineered WS/WSe Heterostructures by Low-Temperature Plasma-Assisted Sulfurization and Selenization toward Enhanced HER Performance. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2024; 16(25):32490-32502. PMC: 11212026. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.4c03513. View

20.

Ling T, Zhang T, Ge B, Han L, Zheng L, Lin F . Well-Dispersed Nickel- and Zinc-Tailored Electronic Structure of a Transition Metal Oxide for Highly Active Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Reaction. Adv Mater. 2019; 31(16):e1807771. DOI: 10.1002/adma.201807771. View