Two-dimensional mineral hydrogel-derived single atoms-anchored heterostructures for ultrastable hydrogen evolution

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 6249 - 12
• Main Authors: Lyu, Fucong, Zeng, Shanshan, Jia, Zhe, Ma, Fei-Xiang, Sun, Ligang, Cheng, Lizi, Pan, Jie, Bao, Yan, Mao, Zhengyi, Bu, Yu, Li, Yang Yang, Lu, Jian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 21.10.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 119/118; 140/146; 147/135; 147/143; 639/301/299/161; 639/638/675; 639/638/77/884; 639/638/77/886; Adsorption; Carbon neutrality; Catalysts; Density functional theory; Dispersion; Electrocatalysts; Evolution; Fabrication; Heterostructures; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrogels; Hydrogen; Hydrogen evolution reactions; Hydrogen production; Hydrogen-based energy; Iron; Low cost; multidisciplinary; Nanostructure; Noble metals; Performance degradation; Reliability aspects; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Stability
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33725-8

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 −2 , and superior stability without performance deterioration over 600 h at current density up to 200 mA cm −2 , 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 2 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. It remains a great challenge to achieve large-scale fabrication of single atom-anchored heterostructured catalysts with high stability, low cost, and convenience. Here, the authors report single iron atom-dispersed Mo-based nanosheets synthesized from a scalable two-dimensional mineral hydrogel approach for hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline condition.