Two-dimensional mineral hydrogel-derived single atoms-anchored heterostructures for ultrastable hydrogen evolution.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 36271088.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-022-33725-8 and PMC identifier 9586971.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Hydrogen energy is critical for achieving carbon neutrality. Heterostructured materials with single metal-atom dispersion are desirable for hydrogen production. However, it remains a great challenge to achieve large-scale fabrication of single atom-anchored heterostructured catalysts with high stability, low cost, and convenience. Here, we report single iron (Fe) atom-dispersed heterostructured Mo-based nanosheets developed from a mineral hydrogel. These rationally designed nanosheets exhibit excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity and reliability in alkaline condition, manifesting an overpotential of 38.5 mV at 10 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>, and superior stability without performance deterioration over 600 h at current density up to 200 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>, superior to most previously reported non-noble-metal electrocatalysts. The experimental and density functional theory results reveal that the O-coordinated single Fe atom-dispersed heterostructures greatly facilitated H<sub>2</sub>O adsorption and enabled effective adsorbed hydrogen (H*) adsorption/desorption. The green, scalable production of single-atom-dispersed heterostructured HER electrocatalysts reported here is of great significance in promoting their large-scale implementation.