TY - JOUR
T1 - Highly Efficient Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Generation Reaction Using Tungsten Phosphosulfide Nanosheets
AU - Veeramani, Vediyappan
AU - Yu, Hsin Chin
AU - Hu, Shu Fen
AU - Liu, Ru Shi
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully appreciate the financial support from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (Contract Nos. MOST 104-2113-M-002-012-MY3 and MOST 106-2112-M-003-007-MY3).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2018/5/23
Y1 - 2018/5/23
N2 - The initiation of hydrogen energy production from sunlight through photoelectrochemical (PEC) system is an important strategy for resolving contemporary issues in energy requirement. Although precious Pt and other noble metals offer a desirable catalytic activity for this method, earth-abundant nonprecious metal catalysts must be developed for wide-scale application. In this regard, P-type silicon (P-Si) micropyramids (Si MPs) are a favorable photocathode because of their effective light-conversion properties and appropriate band gap position. In this study, we developed amorphous tungsten phosphosulfide nanosheets (WS2-xPx NSs) on Si MPs through a simple thermal annealing process for solar-driven hydrogen evolution reaction. The P substitution in the nanostructure effectively produced many defective sites at the edges. The product exhibited an efficient photocurrent density of 19.11 mA cm-2 at 0 V and a low onset potential of 0.21 VRHE compared with tungsten disulfide (WS2; 13.43 mA cm-2). The fabricated catalyst also showed desirable stability for up to 8 h for the WS0.60P1.40@Si MPs photocathode. The extraordinary activity could be due to numerous active sites provided by heteroatoms (sulfur and phosphorus) in the edges, resulting in dwindling reaction kinetics barrier and enhanced PEC activity.
AB - The initiation of hydrogen energy production from sunlight through photoelectrochemical (PEC) system is an important strategy for resolving contemporary issues in energy requirement. Although precious Pt and other noble metals offer a desirable catalytic activity for this method, earth-abundant nonprecious metal catalysts must be developed for wide-scale application. In this regard, P-type silicon (P-Si) micropyramids (Si MPs) are a favorable photocathode because of their effective light-conversion properties and appropriate band gap position. In this study, we developed amorphous tungsten phosphosulfide nanosheets (WS2-xPx NSs) on Si MPs through a simple thermal annealing process for solar-driven hydrogen evolution reaction. The P substitution in the nanostructure effectively produced many defective sites at the edges. The product exhibited an efficient photocurrent density of 19.11 mA cm-2 at 0 V and a low onset potential of 0.21 VRHE compared with tungsten disulfide (WS2; 13.43 mA cm-2). The fabricated catalyst also showed desirable stability for up to 8 h for the WS0.60P1.40@Si MPs photocathode. The extraordinary activity could be due to numerous active sites provided by heteroatoms (sulfur and phosphorus) in the edges, resulting in dwindling reaction kinetics barrier and enhanced PEC activity.
KW - hydrogen
KW - photoelectrochemical performance
KW - silicon
KW - tungsten disulfide
KW - tungsten phosphosulfide
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U2 - 10.1021/acsami.8b03692
DO - 10.1021/acsami.8b03692
M3 - Article
C2 - 29727156
AN - SCOPUS:85046676627
VL - 10
SP - 17280
EP - 17286
JO - ACS applied materials & interfaces
JF - ACS applied materials & interfaces
SN - 1944-8244
IS - 20
ER -