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Vol. 11 (2019)

High-Index-Faceted Ni3S2 Branch Arrays as Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Efficient Water Splitting

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-019-0242-8
Shengjue Deng
State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People’s Republic of China
Kaili Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People’s Republic of China
Dong Xie
Guangdong Engineering and Technology Research Center for Advanced Nanomaterials, School of Environment and Civil Engineering, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, People’s Republic of China
Yan Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People’s Republic of China
Yongqi Zhang
School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637371, Singapore
Yadong Wang
School of Engineering, Nanyang Polytechnic, Singapore 569830, Singapore
Jianbo Wu
Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory for Cutting Tools, Taizhou University, Taizhou 318000, People’s Republic of China
Xiuli Wang
State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People’s Republic of China
Hong Jin Fan
School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637371, Singapore
Xinhui Xia
State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People’s Republic of China
Jiangping Tu
State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Jiangping Tu

tujp@zju.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 11 (2019), Article Number: 12

Abstract

For efficient electrolysis of water for hydrogen generation or other value-added chemicals, it is highly relevant to develop low-temperature synthesis of low-cost and high-efficiency metal sulfide electrocatalysts on a large scale. Herein, we construct a new core–branch array and binder-free electrode by growing Ni3S2 nanoflake branches on an atomic-layer-deposited (ALD) TiO2 skeleton. Through induced growth on the ALD-TiO2 backbone, cross-linked Ni3S2 nanoflake branches with exposed {2¯10} high-index facets are uniformly anchored to the preformed TiO2 core forming an integrated electrocatalyst. Such a core–branch array structure possesses large active surface area, uniform porous structure, and rich active sites of the exposed {2¯10} high-index facet in the Ni3S2 nanoflake. Accordingly, the TiO2@Ni3S2 core/branch arrays exhibit remarkable electrocatalytic activities in an alkaline medium, with lower overpotentials for both oxygen evolution reaction (220 mV at 10 mA cm−2) and hydrogen evolution reaction (112 mV at 10 mA cm−2), which are better than those of other Ni3S2 counterparts. Stable overall water splitting based on this bifunctional electrolyzer is also demonstrated.


Highlights:


1 TiO2@Ni3S2 core/branch arrays are constructed via a low-temperature sulfurization.


2 Highly active {2¯10} high-index facet of Ni3S2 is exposed for both oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).


3 Remarkable bifunctional electrocatalytic activity is observed for both HER and OER.

Keywords

Nickel sulfide Core/branch arrays Porous film Bifunctional electrocatalysts Electrochemical water splitting Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)
Deng, Shengjue, Kaili Zhang, Dong Xie, Yan Zhang, Yongqi Zhang, Yadong Wang, Jianbo Wu, Xiuli Wang, Hong Jin Fan, Xinhui Xia, and Jiangping Tu. 2019. “High-Index-Faceted Ni3S2 Branch Arrays As Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Efficient Water Splitting”. Nano-Micro Letters 11 (February):12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-019-0242-8.
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