Patchwork-Structured Heterointerface of 1T-WS₂/a-WO₃ with Sustained Hydrogen Spillover as a Highly Efficient Hydrogen...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Catalysis

Background:

• Tungsten disulfide (WS2) is a promising electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).
• Improving the intrinsic catalytic activity of WS2 is crucial for efficient water splitting.
• Facilitating proton transfer to active sites is key to enhancing HER performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a nanodomain tungsten oxide (WO3) interface to 1T-WS2.
• To enhance HER performance by facilitating proton transfer to active sites.
• To develop a novel strategy for efficient water splitting.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a patchwork-structured heterointerface (WSO) of 1T-WS2/a-WO3 using H2S and O2 plasma treatments.
• Characterization of the WSO structure and its interface properties.
• Electrochemical evaluation of HER activity and density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

Main Results:

• The WSO interface, particularly WSO-1.2, demonstrated remarkable HER activity with an overpotential of 212 mV at 10 mA/cm².
• The hydrophilic WO3 interface facilitated the hydrogen spillover effect and acted as an efficient proton channel.
• DFT calculations confirmed higher proton binding energies on WO3 and reduced HER overpotential on 1T-WS2.

Conclusions:

• The developed 1T-WS2/a-WO3 heterointerface significantly enhances HER performance through improved proton transport.
• This strategy offers a novel approach for designing advanced electrocatalysts for water splitting.
• Efficient proton channeling is a viable pathway to boost catalytic activity in energy conversion reactions.