Plasma-Engineered CeO Nanosheet Array with Nitrogen-Doping and Porous Architecture for Efficient Electrocatalysis.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Surface Engineering
• Catalysis

Background:

• Cerium oxide (CeO₂) is a versatile material, but its performance often requires high-temperature treatments for surface modification.
• Developing facile and moderate surface engineering methods for CeO₂ is crucial for broader applications.
• Existing modification approaches for CeO₂ can be complex and energy-intensive.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a low-temperature, facile method for surface engineering of CeO₂.
• To synthesize nitrogen-doped porous CeO₂ nanosheets.
• To investigate the impact of nitrogen doping on hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance.

Main Methods:

• Low-temperature NH₃/Ar plasma treatment was employed to synthesize porous CeO₂ nanosheets.
• Nitrogen doping was achieved through the plasma process.
• A control group of Ar-plasma-treated CeO₂ (without nitrogen) was used for mechanistic studies.

Main Results:

• Porous CeO₂ nanosheets with effective nitrogen doping were successfully synthesized.
• The nitrogen-doped CeO₂ exhibited significantly boosted hydrogen evolution reaction performance.
• The material demonstrated a low overpotential of 65 mV and long-term stability.
• Mechanistic studies confirmed that nitrogen doping provides abundant active sites and improves charge transfer.

Conclusions:

• Low-temperature plasma treatment is an effective surface engineering strategy for CeO₂.
• Nitrogen doping plays a critical role in enhancing the catalytic activity and stability of CeO₂ for HER.
• This work provides insights into plasma-assisted surface modification and structure-activity relationships in catalysis.