Abstract
The cathodic process in electrochemical water electrolyzers, the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), is an extremely important reaction as it produces clean H2 gas that can be utilized in a fuel cell to create electricity as an energy source for the increasing energy consumption of today's World. Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) materials have emerged as a competitor to Pt catalysts for the HER; however, the HER catalytic activity of TMD materials depends on various parameters including their fabrication route. Herein, we present a one-step powderless deposition growth process of 2H-MoS2 and 2H-WS2 materials on their native metals which serve directly as electrodes. The 2H phase TMDs were subsequently partially converted to the 1T-phase by a tert-butyllithium immersion treatment. The 2H and 2H/1T phase TMD foils were utilized for electrochemical hydrogen evolution, and we show that these TMD foils outperform or rival other MoS2 and WS2 materials in the literature fabricated by powder-based deposition/growth techniques. These findings highlight the importance of developing new scalable fabrication routes for HER catalysts in the race toward clean energy production.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 16440-16449 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 19 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2019 Oct 7 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:M.P.B. would like to acknowledge the European Structural and Investment Funds, OP RDE-funded project “ChemJets” (No. CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/16_027/0008351). Z.S. was supported by the Neuron Foundation for science support. M.P. acknowledges the financial support of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (EXPRO: 19-26896X).
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2019 American Chemical Society.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Chemistry(all)
- Environmental Chemistry
- Chemical Engineering(all)
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment