Electronegativity-Induced Charge Balancing to Boost Stability and Activity of Amorphous Electrocatalysts.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 34951727.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1002/adma.202100537.
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Abstract
Amorphization is an efficient strategy to activate intrinsically inert catalysts. However, the low crystallinity of amorphous catalysts often causes high solubility and poor electrochemical stability in aqueous solution. Here, a different mechanism is developed to simultaneously stabilize and activate the water-soluble amorphous MoS<sub>x</sub> O<sub>y</sub> via a charge-balancing strategy, which is induced by different electronegativity between the co-dopants Rh (2.28) and Sn (1.96). The electron-rich Sn prefers to stabilize the unstable apical O sites in MoS<sub>x</sub> O<sub>y</sub> through charge transfer, which can prevent the H from attacking. Meanwhile, the Rh, as the charge regulator, shifts the main active sites on the basal plane from inert Sn to active apical Rh sites. As a result, the amorphous RhSn-MoS<sub>x</sub> O<sub>y</sub> exhibits drastic enhancement in electrochemical stability (η<sub>10</sub> increases only by 12 mV) after 1000 cycles and a distinct activity (η<sub>10</sub> : 26 mV and Tafel: 30.8 mV dec<sup>-1</sup> ) for the hydrogen evolution reaction in acidic solution. This work paves a route for turning impracticably water-soluble catalysts into treasure and inspires new ideas to design high-performance amorphous electrocatalysts.