1 T-Phase Enriched P doped WS2 nanosphere for highly efficient electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction

In recent years, great attention has been devoted to transition metal-based dichalcogenides (TMDs), in particular to the 1 T-phase enriched TMDs, which possess much higher hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity than the 2H-phase. Currently, how to prepare the stable metallic phase TMDs nanomaterials to achieve an endurable HER is one of the main challenges for practical applications. In this study, we present a reliable and tunable 1 T-phase TMDs-based synthetic strategy to atomically engineer non-metal doping sites onto metallic 1 T-WS2. Benefiting from engineering phosphorus atoms, the optimized electrocatalyst shows great enhancement in the HER. We reveal that P doped WS2 will produce 1 T-phase enriched WS2|P catalyst, which is beneficial to expose more active sites and improve the conductivity of the material. More interestingly, the HER activities of 1 T-WS2|P-5 electrocatalyst outperforms 2H-WS2, demonstrating a low overpotential (eta HER = 125 mV @ 10 mA cm-2), a small Tafel slope (HER = 73.73 mV dec- 1), and significant durability under acidic conditions. Simultaneously, the 1 TWS2|P-5 catalyst also presents an overpotential of 190 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and a low Tafel slope of 92.11 mV dec- 1 under alkaline conditions. Moreover, the catalyst has excellent catalytic stability under acidic and alkaline conditions. We introduce the first example of 1 T phase enrichment P doped WS2 as a HER electrochemical catalyst, and this work is expected to open a new door for the discovery of other 1 T-phase TMDs as effective catalysts for renewable energy.

Automated summary

The study presents a synthetic strategy based on 1T-phase TMDs to atomically engineer metallic 1T-WS2, resulting in an electrocatalyst with enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction. Phosphorus atoms were engineered into WS2 to create a 1T-phase enriched WS2|P catalyst, which improved active site exposure and material conductivity, leading to superior hydrogen evolution. The catalyst showed excellent stability and performance under both acidic and alkaline conditions, indicating potential for future applications in renewable energy.