Abstract
The creation of heterostructures based on non-precious metals with platinum-like hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance remains a challenge for hydrogen fuel technologies. Motivated by the fascinating properties of heterostructures, we establish here an effective approach to fabricate the heterostructured M−N−Ni9S8/Nb2O5 (M = Co, Fe, or Cu) catalysts using spatially separated Ni9S8 nanosheet/Nb2O5 nanobelts that are coupled with nitrogen (N) and metal atoms. Due to its improved intrinsic activity, interface-rich structure, abundant active sites, and large surface area the Co−N−Ni9S8/Nb2O5 heterostructure achieved a low acidic HER overpotential of −171 mV at −10 mA cm−2, thereby performing better than existing heterostructures. Moreover, for the alkaline HER, the Cu−N−Ni9S8/Nb2O5 heterostructure required a low overpotential of −109 mV at −10 mA cm−2, which is close to the performance of Pt/C catalyst. Density functional theory (DFT) predictions indicate that the local charge distribution and electronic properties at the heterointerface of Ni9S8/Nb2O5 can be significantly modulated by co-doping of metals with N atoms, resulting in optimal adsorption energy and reduced water dissociation barrier; thereby accelerating the acidic and alkaline HER activity. This work, therefore, provides a new design principle to create advanced heterostructured catalysts.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 134073 |
Journal | Chemical Engineering Journal |
Volume | 431 |
Early online date | 11 Dec 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22062005 , 22165005 and U20A20128 ), Guangxi Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (No. 2019GXNSFFA245016 ), and Scientific Research Start-Up Project Program of Guilin University of Technology (No. RD2000002183 ), Guilin, PR China.
Funding
This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22062005 , 22165005 and U20A20128 ), Guangxi Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (No. 2019GXNSFFA245016 ), and Scientific Research Start-Up Project Program of Guilin University of Technology (No. RD2000002183 ), Guilin, PR China.
Keywords
- Density functional theory
- Electrocatalyst
- Hydrogen evolution reaction
- Interface engineering
- NbO nanobelts
- NiS/NbO heterostructure
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemistry
- Environmental Chemistry
- General Chemical Engineering
- Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
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Raman confocal microscope RENISHAM INVIA
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