Enhancing Built‐In Electric Field via Balancing Interfacial Atom Orbit Hybridization at Boride@Sulfide Heterostructure for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Exploring nonprecious metal‐based catalysts for cathodic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) has facilitated the realization of hydrogen economy toward water electrolysis in alkaline media. However, the difficult water dissociation process for the Volmer step (H 2 O → H* + OH*) and the subsequent unsuitable OH* adsorption energy on nonprecious metal‐based catalysts severely reduce the kinetics of HER. Herein, the universal synthesis for a series of transition metal (Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, and W)‐based boride@sulfide heterostructured catalysts is realized by using the molten‐salt method to conduct the in situ boronization of commercial sulfides. Significantly, WB 2 @WS 2 heterostructured catalyst exhibits excellent catalytic activity and stability for HER. Balancing interfacial atom orbit hybridization between W( d )‐B( s , p ) and W( d )‐S( s , p ) at WB 2 @WS 2 heterostructured interface enhances the built‐in electric field. In situ Raman spectroscopy and density functional theory calculation results reveal that the strong built‐in electric field in WB 2 @WS 2 optimizes the adsorption and desorption of OH* intermediate, reducing the energy barrier of the rate‐determining step (OH* desorption step), and thus favoring the enhancement of catalytic performance toward HER.
Authors: Mengna Wang, Chuanchuan Yan, Tianfu Liu, Shuo Wang, Ziqi Liao, Feifan Guo, Qi Wang, Zhenyu Li, Guoxiong Wang
Institutions: Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Jiaotong University, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Northeast Normal University
Language: English
Field: Energy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: Salt Science Research Foundation, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, National Key Research and Development Program of China, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy
OpenAlex ID: W4409479553