Engineering active sites on hierarchical transition bimetal oxides/sulfides heterostructure array enabling robust overall water splitting.

ABSTRACT: Rational design of the catalysts is impressive for sustainable energy conversion. However, there is a grand challenge to engineer active sites at the interface. Herein, hierarchical transition bimetal oxides/sulfides heterostructure arrays interacting two-dimensional MoO_x/MoS₂ nanosheets attached to one-dimensional NiO_x/Ni₃S₂ nanorods were fabricated by oxidation/hydrogenation-induced surface reconfiguration strategy. The NiMoO_x/NiMoS heterostructure array exhibits the overpotentials of 38?mV for hydrogen evolution and 186?mV for oxygen evolution at 10?mA?cm^-2, even surviving at a large current density of 500?mA?cm^-2 with long-term stability. Due to optimized adsorption energies and accelerated water splitting kinetics by theory calculations, the assembled two-electrode cell delivers the industrially relevant current densities of 500 and 1000?mA?cm^-2 at record low cell voltages of 1.60 and 1.66?V with excellent durability. This research provides a promising avenue to enhance the electrocatalytic performance of the catalysts by engineering interfacial active sites toward large-scale water splitting.

SUBMITTER: Zhai P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7596725 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature