Highly Efficient and Stable Hydrogen Evolution from Natural Seawater by Boron-Doped Three-Dimensional Ni2P-MoO2 Heterostructure Microrod Arrays

Le Phuc Phan; Thuy Tien Nguyen Tran; Thuy-Kieu Truong; Jianmin Yu; Hanh-Vy Tran Nguyen; Thang Bach Phan; Nhu Hoa Thi Tran; Ngoc Quang Tran

doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c01697

Highly Efficient and Stable Hydrogen Evolution from Natural Seawater by Boron-Doped Three-Dimensional Ni₂P-MoO₂ Heterostructure Microrod Arrays

J Phys Chem Lett. 2023 Aug 17;14(32):7264-7273. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c01697. Epub 2023 Aug 9.

Authors

Le Phuc Phan^{1

2

3}, Thuy Tien Nguyen Tran^{1

2

3}, Thuy-Kieu Truong⁴, Jianmin Yu⁵, Hanh-Vy Tran Nguyen^{1

2}, Thang Bach Phan^{1

2}, Nhu Hoa Thi Tran^{1

2

3}, Ngoc Quang Tran^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Innovative Materials and Architectures, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam.
² Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam.
³ Faculty of Materials Science and Technology, University of Science, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam.
⁴ Institute of Physics, National Institute of Applied Mechanics and Information, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Ho Chi Minh 710116, Vietnam.
⁵ International Collaborative Laboratory of 2D Materials for Optoelectronic Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Microscale Optoelectronics, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, P. R. China.

PMID: 37555944
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c01697

Abstract

The rational design of highly active and stable electrocatalysts toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is highly desirable but challenging in seawater electrolysis. Herein we propose a strategy of boron-doped three-dimensional Ni₂P-MoO₂ heterostructure microrod arrays that exhibit excellent catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution in both alkaline freshwater and seawater electrolytes. The incorporation of boron into Ni₂P-MoO₂ heterostructure microrod arrays could modulate the electronic properties, thereby accelerating the HER. Consequently, the B-Ni₂P-MoO₂ heterostructure microrod array electrocatalyst exhibits a superior catalyst activity for HER with low overpotentials of 155, 155, and 157 mV at a current density of 500 mA cm^-2 in 1 M KOH, 1 M KOH + NaCl, and 1 M KOH + seawater, respectively. It also exhibits exceptional performance for HER in natural seawater with a low overpotential of 248 mV at 10 mA cm^-2 and a long-lasting lifetime of over 100 h.