Yao Zhou1*, Jiacheng Wang2, Jianjun Liu2, Qian Liu2, Fan Hong Jin2
1Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
2Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
3Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637371, Singapore
EXTENDED ABSTRACT: Water electrolysis is a promising approach to produce high-purity hydrogen. It requires effective electrocatalysts at cathode to lower the energy barrier and the cost for practical use. For intrinsic activity, it closely relates with the local configurations on the surface. As a result, the precise design of local configuration of electrocatalysts is urgently needed to enahnce the intrinsic activity and reduce the trial-and-error cost. Low-dimension materials are excellent models to study local configuration with relatively more exposed surface and less impact of thickness compared to normal materials. In this presentation, monolayer VI-, and VII-group transition metal chalcogenides (MoS2, ReS2) and amorphous MoSxOy nano-islands are employed to investigate the local configurations on the surface to activate inert basal plane and to enhance the cycling stability. The per-site activity of in-plane sulfur sites of MoS2 monolayer via precise predicting and tuning H-S bonding strength, which can be correlated with the charge transfer capacity of local configuration and is realized by forming a group of local configurations of transition metal atom or clusters and compensative sulfur vacancy. In addition, rational constructing active metal-metal bonds in ReS2 monolayer produces intrinsic charge engineering, which has an autooptimizing effect on activity. For enhanced cycling stability, a charge balancing strategy with compatible electronegativity between co-dopants efficiently offers the original water-soluble amorphous MoSxOy with an excellent stability in acidic solution.
Keywords: water electrolysis; activity and stability; local configuration; precise design
REFERENCES
[1] Zhou, Y.; Zhang, J; Song, E.; Lin, J. et al., Nat. Commun. 2020, 11: 2253.
[2] Zhou, Y.; Song, E.; Zhou, J.; Lin, J.; Ma, R.; et al. ACS Nano 2018, 12: 4486.
[3] Zhou, J.#,*; Zhu, C.#; Zhou, Y.# (Co-first author); Dong J.; et al. Nat. Mater. 2022, DOI: 10.1038/s41563-022-01291-5.
[4] Zhou, Y.; Hao, W.; Zhao, X.; et al. Adv. Mater. 2022, 34: 2100537.
[5] Tan, H.; Zhou Y. *; Qiao S.; Fan H. * Mater. Today 2021,48: 270.
Yao Zhou has completed her PhD from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Postdoctoral Studies from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She is a professor at Beijing Institute of Technology and published over 50 peer-reviewed journal papers including Nature, Nat. Mater., Nat. Commun. Her research interests focus on novel structures and materials for electrocatalysis and advanced batteries.