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Frontiers of Materials Science

ISSN 2095-025X

ISSN 2095-0268(Online)

CN 11-5985/TB

Postal Subscription Code 80-974

2018 Impact Factor: 1.701

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Front. Mater. Sci.    2018, Vol. 12 Issue (3) : 239-246    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-018-0425-0
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Catalytically enhanced thin and uniform TaS2 nanosheets for hydrogen evolution reaction
Infant RAJ, Yongli DUAN, Daniel KIGEN, Wang YANG, Liqiang HOU, Fan YANG, Yongfeng LI()
State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
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Abstract

Though the transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) were proven to have a better performance on the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the bulk production of active TMD materials remains a challenging work. This report overcomes those barriers by showing a simple procedure to synthesize TaS2 nanosheets through modifying the arc discharge process. The usage of chloride as the transporting agent reduces the growth period of the formed TaS2 with active edge sites. TaS2 is found to have a uniform thickness (4 nm) with high crystallinity and adopt a 2H polytype (double-layered hexagonal) structure. The as-synthesized TaS2 has superior activity for HER with the potential of 280 mV.
Keywords hydrogen evolution reaction      TaS2 nanosheets      arc disharge      active edge sites     
Corresponding Author(s): Yongfeng LI   
Online First Date: 07 August 2018    Issue Date: 10 September 2018
 Cite this article:   
Infant RAJ,Yongli DUAN,Daniel KIGEN, et al. Catalytically enhanced thin and uniform TaS2 nanosheets for hydrogen evolution reaction[J]. Front. Mater. Sci., 2018, 12(3): 239-246.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/foms/EN/10.1007/s11706-018-0425-0
https://academic.hep.com.cn/foms/EN/Y2018/V12/I3/239
Fig.1  A schematic diagram of the experimental setup.
Fig.2  SEM images of the as-synthesized samples prepared at (a) 5 min, (b) 15 min, (c) 30 min, and (d) 60 min.
Fig.3  (a) TEM image, (b) SAED pattern, (c) AFM image and (d) its corresponding height profile of exfoliated TaS2 nanosheets obtained after 60 min.
Fig.4  (a) Raman spectra at the reaction time of 5 and 60 min. (b) XRD patterns of TaS2 samples prepared at various reaction times. XPS spectra of (c) Ta and (d) S.
Fig.5  (a) Polarization curves, (b) corresponding Tafel plots and (c) Nyquist plots of TaS2 samples prepared at various reaction times.
Structure Polytype Synthesis route Temperature/ºC Time duration/h Ref.
Nanobelts 2H heating in ampoule with I2 760 48 [S1]
Nanorods 2H & 3R CVT using I2 powder 750 7 [S2]
Nanobelts 2H two-step heating process in ampoule with I2 750 7 [S3]
Nanotubes 2H CVD using Ta2O5 625 12 [S4]
Fullerene like 1T CVD using TaCl5 and H2S 750 several [S5]
Nanowires 1T SACVT 1100 60 [S6]
Thin flakes 1T CVT 1000 168 [S7]
Nanosheets 2H arc discharge 1000 1 this work
  Table S1 Comparison of various synthesis routes and its parameters
Synthesis route Polytype Current density /(mA?cm−2) Onset potential /mV Tafel slope /(mV?dec−1) Ref.
Exfoliation 1T-TaS2 10 310 215 [S8]
Plasma 1T-TaS2 10 200 135 [S8]
Sonication 2H-TaS2 10 175 120 [S9]
PVCVD 1T-TaS2 10 381 158.9 [S10]
2H-TaS2 361 104.4
3R-TaS2 106 85.1
Arc discharge 2H-TaS2 10 280 105 this work
  Table S2 Comparison of HER performance of TaS2 with other reports
Reaction time/min Shape Average size/nm Onset potential/mV Tafel slope/(mV?dec−1)
5 cube 600×300 (l×b) 550 230
15 pellet 250×100×74 (l×b×h) 460 150
30 pellet 250×82×50 (l×b×h) 400 119
60 sheet 150×4 (l×t) 280 105
  Table S3 Comparison of HER performance of TaS2 with respect to reaction time
  Fig. S1 XRD pattern for the sample prepared at the molar ratio of 1:3 (TaCl5:S).
  Fig. S2 (a) SEM image of exfoliated TaS2 nanosheet at high resolution and (b) the EDAX pattern.
  Fig. S3 (a) AFM image and (b) corresponding height profile for two films.
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