Electrochemically deposited transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures as electrocatalysts: Accelerated kinetics for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Tshiamo Manyepedza; Thomas Auvray; Tomislav Friščić; Neil V. Rees

doi:10.1016/j.elecom.2024.107678

Electrochemically deposited transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures as electrocatalysts: Accelerated kinetics for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Tshiamo Manyepedza, Thomas Auvray, Tomislav Friščić, Neil V. Rees^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) heterostructures have been discovered to have improved catalytic activity towards the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This study explores the stability and HER catalytic activity including reaction kinetics of heterolayers of different TMDs (MoS₂, MoSe₂ and WS₂). The stability of the heterolayers varied with those having an overlayer of electrodeposited MoS₂ being more stable as compared to those with MoSe₂ overlayer which degraded with each scan in acidic media. Investigation into the HER kinetics of the heterolayers involved Tafel analysis and electrochemical rate constant calculation. There was an improvement in Tafel values calculated in comparison to reported values for these heterolayers. WS₂/MoS₂ and MoSe₂/MoS₂ heterolayers registered rate constants of (3.20 ± 0.10) × 10⁻⁴ cm s⁻¹ and (1.73 ± 0.03) × 10⁻⁴ cm s⁻¹ respectively, which was an improvement of up to an order of magnitude compared to the reported rate constant of electrodeposited MoS₂ of (3.17 ± 0.30) × 10⁻⁵ cm s⁻¹. All this highlights the improved HER catalytic activity of the heterolayers.

Original language	English
Article number	107678
Number of pages	8
Journal	Electrochemistry Communications
Volume	160
Early online date	9 Feb 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elecom.2024.107678
Publication status	Published - Mar 2024

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors wish to thank Dr Nigel Neate (Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre, University of Nottingham) and Dr Marcos Fernandez-Villamarin (School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham) for assistance in performing FIB-SEM and Spectroscopic Ellipsometry measurements respectively. NVR thanks The Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2019-146) and TM thanks the Government of Botswana (TR184730) for funding. TA and TF acknowledge support of the Leverhulme Trust (Leverhulme International Professorship, LIP-2021-011) and the University of Birmingham.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s)

Keywords

Heterostructures
Hydrogen evolution
Reaction kinetics
Tafel analysis
Transition metal dichalcogenides

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Electrochemistry

Access to Document

10.1016/j.elecom.2024.107678Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

ManyepedzaT2024ElectrochemicallyFinal published version, 3.11 MBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

1 Finished
1 Active

Leverhulme International Professorships - Tomislav Friscic
Friscic, T.
Leverhulme Trust
12/09/22 → 11/09/27
Project: Research
Recycling Critical Metals: Making Catalysts Directly from Waste
Rees, N.
Leverhulme Trust
13/01/20 → 27/09/23
Project: Research

Cite this

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title = "Electrochemically deposited transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures as electrocatalysts: Accelerated kinetics for the hydrogen evolution reaction",

abstract = "Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) heterostructures have been discovered to have improved catalytic activity towards the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This study explores the stability and HER catalytic activity including reaction kinetics of heterolayers of different TMDs (MoS2, MoSe2 and WS2). The stability of the heterolayers varied with those having an overlayer of electrodeposited MoS2 being more stable as compared to those with MoSe2 overlayer which degraded with each scan in acidic media. Investigation into the HER kinetics of the heterolayers involved Tafel analysis and electrochemical rate constant calculation. There was an improvement in Tafel values calculated in comparison to reported values for these heterolayers. WS2/MoS2 and MoSe2/MoS2 heterolayers registered rate constants of (3.20 ± 0.10) × 10−4 cm s−1 and (1.73 ± 0.03) × 10−4 cm s−1 respectively, which was an improvement of up to an order of magnitude compared to the reported rate constant of electrodeposited MoS2 of (3.17 ± 0.30) × 10−5 cm s−1. All this highlights the improved HER catalytic activity of the heterolayers.",

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author = "Tshiamo Manyepedza and Thomas Auvray and Tomislav Fri{\v s}{\v c}i{\'c} and Rees, {Neil V.}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors wish to thank Dr Nigel Neate (Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre, University of Nottingham) and Dr Marcos Fernandez-Villamarin (School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham) for assistance in performing FIB-SEM and Spectroscopic Ellipsometry measurements respectively. NVR thanks The Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2019-146) and TM thanks the Government of Botswana (TR184730) for funding. TA and TF acknowledge support of the Leverhulme Trust (Leverhulme International Professorship, LIP-2021-011) and the University of Birmingham. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 The Author(s)",

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AU - Friščić, Tomislav

AU - Rees, Neil V.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors wish to thank Dr Nigel Neate (Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre, University of Nottingham) and Dr Marcos Fernandez-Villamarin (School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham) for assistance in performing FIB-SEM and Spectroscopic Ellipsometry measurements respectively. NVR thanks The Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2019-146) and TM thanks the Government of Botswana (TR184730) for funding. TA and TF acknowledge support of the Leverhulme Trust (Leverhulme International Professorship, LIP-2021-011) and the University of Birmingham. Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s)

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N2 - Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) heterostructures have been discovered to have improved catalytic activity towards the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This study explores the stability and HER catalytic activity including reaction kinetics of heterolayers of different TMDs (MoS2, MoSe2 and WS2). The stability of the heterolayers varied with those having an overlayer of electrodeposited MoS2 being more stable as compared to those with MoSe2 overlayer which degraded with each scan in acidic media. Investigation into the HER kinetics of the heterolayers involved Tafel analysis and electrochemical rate constant calculation. There was an improvement in Tafel values calculated in comparison to reported values for these heterolayers. WS2/MoS2 and MoSe2/MoS2 heterolayers registered rate constants of (3.20 ± 0.10) × 10−4 cm s−1 and (1.73 ± 0.03) × 10−4 cm s−1 respectively, which was an improvement of up to an order of magnitude compared to the reported rate constant of electrodeposited MoS2 of (3.17 ± 0.30) × 10−5 cm s−1. All this highlights the improved HER catalytic activity of the heterolayers.

AB - Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) heterostructures have been discovered to have improved catalytic activity towards the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This study explores the stability and HER catalytic activity including reaction kinetics of heterolayers of different TMDs (MoS2, MoSe2 and WS2). The stability of the heterolayers varied with those having an overlayer of electrodeposited MoS2 being more stable as compared to those with MoSe2 overlayer which degraded with each scan in acidic media. Investigation into the HER kinetics of the heterolayers involved Tafel analysis and electrochemical rate constant calculation. There was an improvement in Tafel values calculated in comparison to reported values for these heterolayers. WS2/MoS2 and MoSe2/MoS2 heterolayers registered rate constants of (3.20 ± 0.10) × 10−4 cm s−1 and (1.73 ± 0.03) × 10−4 cm s−1 respectively, which was an improvement of up to an order of magnitude compared to the reported rate constant of electrodeposited MoS2 of (3.17 ± 0.30) × 10−5 cm s−1. All this highlights the improved HER catalytic activity of the heterolayers.

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Electrochemically deposited transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures as electrocatalysts: Accelerated kinetics for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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Projects

Leverhulme International Professorships - Tomislav Friscic

Recycling Critical Metals: Making Catalysts Directly from Waste

Cite this