Scalable Production of Few-Layer Niobium Disulfide Nanosheets via Electrochemical Exfoliation for Energy-Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Jincheng Si; Qiang Zheng; Hanlin Chen; Chaojun Lei; Yange Suo; Bin Yang; Zhiguo Zhang; Zhongjian Li; Lecheng Lei; Yang Hou; Kostya Ken Ostrikov

doi:10.1021/acsami.8b22052

Scalable Production of Few-Layer Niobium Disulfide Nanosheets via Electrochemical Exfoliation for Energy-Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2019 Apr 10;11(14):13205-13213. doi: 10.1021/acsami.8b22052. Epub 2019 Mar 27.

Authors

Jincheng Si^{1

2}, Qiang Zheng³, Hanlin Chen², Chaojun Lei², Yange Suo¹, Bin Yang², Zhiguo Zhang¹, Zhongjian Li², Lecheng Lei², Yang Hou², Kostya Ken Ostrikov⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Energy and Environmental Systems Engineering , Zhejiang University of Science and Technology , Liuhe Road 318# , Hangzhou , Zhejiang Province 310023 , China.
² Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering , Zhejiang University , Hangzhou 310027 , China.
³ Materials Science and Technology Division , Oak Ridge National Laboratory , Oak Ridge , Tennessee 37831 , United States.
⁴ School of Chemistry, Physics, and Mechanical Engineering , Queensland University of Technology , Brisbane , QLD 4000 , Australia.

PMID: 30882199
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.8b22052

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) niobium disulfide (NbS₂) materials feature unique physical and chemical properties leading to highly promising energy conversion applications. Herein, we developed a robust synthesis technique consisting of electrochemical exfoliation under alternating currents and subsequent liquid-phase exfoliation to prepare highly uniform few-layer NbS₂ nanosheets. The obtained few-layer NbS₂ material has a 2D nanosheet structure with an ultrathin thickness of ∼3 nm and a lateral size of ∼2 μm. Benefiting from their unique 2D structure and highly exposed active sites, the few-layer NbS₂ nanosheets drop-casted on carbon paper exhibited excellent catalytic activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acid with an overpotential of 90 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm^-2 and a low Tafel slope of 83 mV dec^-1, which are superior to those reported for other NbS₂-based HER electrocatalysts. Furthermore, few-layer NbS₂ nanosheets are effective as bifunctional electrocatalysts for hydrogen production by overall water splitting, where the urea and hydrazine oxidation reactions replace the oxygen evolution reaction.

Keywords: electrochemical exfoliation; energy-efficient HER; few-layer NbS2; scalable production; two-dimensional nanosheets.