Efficient hydrogen evolution in transition metal dichalcogenides via a simple one-step hydrazine reaction.
Hydrogen evolution reaction is catalysed efficiently with precious metals, such as platinum; however, transition metal dichalcogenides have recently emerged as a promising class of materials for electrocatalysis, but these materials still have low activity and durability when compared with precious metals. Here we report a simple one-step scalable approach, where MoOx/MoS2 core-shell nanowires and molybdenum disulfide sheets are exposed to dilute aqueous hydrazine at room temperature, which results in marked improvement in electrocatalytic performance. The nanowires exhibit ∼100 mV improvement in overpotential following exposure to dilute hydrazine, while also showing a 10-fold increase in current density and a significant change in Tafel slope. In situ electrical, gate-dependent measurements and spectroscopic investigations reveal that hydrazine acts as an electron dopant in molybdenum disulfide, increasing its conductivity, while also reducing the MoOx core in the core-shell nanowires, which leads to improved electrocatalytic performance.
Materials Physics and Applications (MPA-11), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.|Chemical Engineering and Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292, USA.
Dustin R
DR
Cummins
Materials Physics and Applications (MPA-11), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
Ulises
U
Martinez
Chemical Engineering and Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292, USA.
Andriy
A
Sherehiy
Materials Physics and Applications (MPA-11), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.|Materials Science and Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
Rajesh
R
Kappera
Chemical Engineering and Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292, USA.
Alejandro
A
Martinez-Garcia
Materials Science and Technology (MST-6), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
Roland K
RK
Schulze
Chemical Engineering and Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292, USA.
Jacek
J
Jasinski
Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
Jing
J
Zhang
Chemistry, Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas 66762, USA.
Ram K
RK
Gupta
Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
Jun
J
Lou
Materials Science and Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
Manish
M
Chhowalla
Chemical Engineering and Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292, USA.
Gamini
G
Sumanasekera
Materials Physics and Applications (MPA-11), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
Aditya D
AD
Mohite
Chemical Engineering and Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292, USA.
Mahendra K
MK
Sunkara
Materials Physics and Applications (MPA-11), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
Gautam
G
Gupta