Doping-induced structural phase transition in cobalt diselenide enables enhanced hydrogen evolution catalysis
Ya-Rong Zheng1, Ping Wu2, Min-Rui Gao3
1Division of Nanomaterials & Chemistry, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Hefei Science Center of CAS, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China.
Phosphorus doping induced a phase transition in cobalt diselenide (CoSe2) catalysts, significantly improving hydrogen evolution reaction performance. This novel approach offers a promising strategy for efficient and stable electrocatalysis in energy applications.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Catalysis
Background:
- Transition metal dichalcogenides are explored as hydrogen evolution reaction catalysts.
- Existing catalysts often require significant thermodynamic input.
- Activating strategies like defects and composition engineering show promise but require further improvement.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate phosphorus doping as a strategy to enhance CoSe2 catalyst performance for the hydrogen evolution reaction.
- To induce a phase transition in CoSe2 to optimize its catalytic properties.
- To achieve high efficiency and stability for practical device applications.
Main Methods:
- Phosphorus doping of CoSe2 to induce a phase transition from cubic to orthorhombic.
- Electrochemical characterization in 1 M KOH to evaluate catalytic activity.
- Stability testing over 20 hours of operation.
Main Results:
- A phase transition to orthorhombic CoSe2 was achieved with 8 wt% phosphorus doping.
- The optimized catalyst exhibited a low overpotential of 104 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and an onset potential of -31 mV.
- Negligible activity decay was observed after 20 hours of continuous operation, indicating excellent stability.
Conclusions:
- Phosphorus doping successfully induced a beneficial structural phase transition in CoSe2.
- The resulting orthorhombic CoSe2 demonstrates superior catalytic activity and stability for the hydrogen evolution reaction.
- This doping-induced phase transition strategy offers a viable pathway for developing advanced electrocatalysts.
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