Dopant triggered atomic configuration activates water splitting to hydrogen
Rui Wu, Jie Xu, Chuanlin Zhao, Xiaozhi Su, Xiaolong Zhang, Ya‐Rong Zheng, Fengyi Yang, Xusheng Zheng, Junfa Zhu, Jun Luo, Wei‐Xue Li, Min‐Rui Gao, Shu‐Hong Yu
Abstract
Abstract Finding highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts is pertinent to the ultimate goal of transformation into a net-zero carbon emission society. The design principles for such HER catalysts lie in the well-known structure-property relationship, which guides the synthesis procedure that creates catalyst with target properties such as catalytic activity. Here we report a general strategy to synthesize 10 kinds of single-atom-doped CoSe 2 -DETA (DETA = diethylenetriamine) nanobelts. By systematically analyzing these products, we demonstrate a volcano-shape correlation between HER activity and Co atomic configuration (ratio of Co-N bonds to Co-Se bonds). Specifically, Pb-CoSe 2 -DETA catalyst reaches current density of 10 mA cm −2 at 74 mV in acidic electrolyte (0.5 M H 2 SO 4 , pH ~0.35). This striking catalytic performance can be attributed to its optimized Co atomic configuration induced by single-atom doping.