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WS2 nanoflakes from nanotubes for electrocatalysis

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Nano Research Aims and scope

Abstract

Next-generation catalysts for water splitting are crucial towards a renewable hydrogen economy. MoS2 and WS2 represent earth-abundant, noble metal cathode alternatives with high catalytic activity at edge sites. One challenge in their development is to nanostructure these materials in order to achieve increased performance through the creation of additional edge sites. In this work, we demonstrate a simple route to form nanostructured-WS2 using sonochemical exfoliation to break interlayer and intralayer bonds in WS2 nanotubes. The resulting few-layer nanoflakes are ∼100 nm wide with a high density of edge sites. WS2 nanoflakes are utilized as cathodes for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and exhibit superior performance to WS2 nanotubes and bulk particles, with a lower onset potential, shallower Tafel slope and increased current density. Future work may employ ultra-small nanoflakes, dopant atoms, or graphene hybrids to further improve electrocatalytic activity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305, USA

    Charina L. Choi, Ju Feng, Yanguang Li, Justin Wu & Hongjie Dai

  2. Department of Science, Holon Academic Institute of Technology, Holon, 58102, Israel

    Alla Zak

  3. Department of Materials and Interfaces, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    Reshef Tenne

Authors
  1. Charina L. Choi
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  2. Ju Feng
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  3. Yanguang Li
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  4. Justin Wu
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  7. Hongjie Dai
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Correspondence to Hongjie Dai.

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Choi, C.L., Feng, J., Li, Y. et al. WS2 nanoflakes from nanotubes for electrocatalysis. Nano Res. 6, 921–928 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-013-0369-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-013-0369-8

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