Polymer-confined growth of perforated MoSe2single-crystals on N-doped graphene toward enhanced hydrogen evolution.
The edge and corner atoms of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are the main electrocatalytically active sites for electrochemical reaction. Here, we demonstrate an approach to generate abundant edge/corner atoms in molybdenum diselenide (MoSe2) nanocrystals supported by nitrogen-doped graphene (NG) which consequently leads to significantly enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity. These structures were fabricated by firstly absorbing the Mo-containing precursor within polymer-functionalized graphene oxide, then selenized to obtain MoSe2nanocrystals on the surface, and finally H2etching was performed to form perforated structures. The use of a functional polymer as an absorption matrix efficiently mitigates aggregation which allows us to obtain MoSe2single-crystals of ∼150 nm in lateral dimension, while maintaining high MoSe2loading. We observed a remarkably enhanced electrocatalytic activity resulting from a significantly increased abundance of edge/corner atoms in hydrogen evolution measurements. Specifically, with this perforated MoSe2/NG-modified cathode, current densities of -1 and -10 mA cm-2were realized with the overpotentials of only 30 and 106 mV, along with a small Tafel slope of 57 mV dec-1and large exchange current density of 127.4 μA cm-2in 0.5 M H2SO4. Such an efficient strategy also opens doors for the unparalleled design and fabrication of TMDC-based nanocomposites for electrochemical applications.
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. keztluo@ust.hk.
Minghao
M
Zhuang
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. keztluo@ust.hk.
Yao
Y
Ding
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. keztluo@ust.hk.
Xuewu
X
Ou
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. keztluo@ust.hk.
Zhengtang
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5134-9240
Z
Luo