Zhao Shuo, Jin Renxi, Song Yongbo, Zhang Hui, House Stephen D, Yang Judith C, Jin Rongchao
Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.
Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, and Physics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15261, USA.
Small. 2017 Nov;13(43). doi: 10.1002/smll.201701519. Epub 2017 Jul 24.
Hydrogen generation via electrocatalytic water splitting holds great promise for future energy revolution. It is desirable to design abundant and efficient catalysts and achieve mechanistic understanding of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here, this paper reports a strategy for improving HER performance of molybdenum disulfide (MoS ) via introducing gold nanoclusters as a cocatalyst. Compared to plain MoS nanosheets, the Au (SR) /MoS nanocomposite exhibits enhanced HER activity with a small onset potential of -0.20 V (vs reversible hydrogen electrode) and a higher current density of 59.3 mA cm at the potential of -0.4 V. In addition to the interfacial interaction between nanoclusters and MoS , the interface between the Au core and the surface ligands (thiolate vs selenolate) is also discovered to distinctly affect the catalytic performance. This work highlights the promise of metal nanoclusters in boosting the HER performance via tailoring the interfacial electronic interactions between gold nanoclusters and MoS nanosheets, as well as the interface between metal core and surface ligands.
通过电催化水分解产氢对未来能源革命具有巨大的潜力。设计丰富且高效的催化剂并深入了解析氢反应（HER）的机理是十分必要的。在此，本文报道了一种通过引入金纳米团簇作为助催化剂来提高二硫化钼（MoS₂）析氢性能的策略。与普通的MoS₂纳米片相比，Au₂(SR)₆/MoS₂纳米复合材料表现出增强的析氢活性，起始电位低至 -0.20 V（相对于可逆氢电极），在 -0.4 V的电位下电流密度高达59.3 mA cm⁻²。除了纳米团簇与MoS₂之间的界面相互作用外，还发现金核与表面配体（硫醇盐与硒醇盐）之间的界面也对催化性能有显著影响。这项工作突出了金属纳米团簇通过调整金纳米团簇与MoS₂纳米片之间的界面电子相互作用以及金属核与表面配体之间的界面来提高析氢性能的潜力。
