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Nano Research 2023, 16(2): 2085-2093 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4901-6
Research Article | Issue | Published: 02 September 2022

Ferrocene-induced switchable preparation of metal-nonmetal codoped tungsten nitride and carbide nanoarrays for electrocatalytic HER in alkaline and acid media

Show Author's Information Jian Zhou1,§,  Fanfan Wang2,§,  Haiqing Wang1,§( ),  Shuxian Hu2( ),  Weijia Zhou1,  Hong Liu1,3( )
Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research (iAIR), School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Jinan, Jinan 250022, China
Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China

§ Jian Zhou, Fanfan Wang, and Haiqing Wang contributed equally to this work.

Keywords:
hydrogen evolution, gas–solid reaction, tungsten nitride/carbide, codoping, phase regulation
Topics:
Electrocatalysis Hydrogen evolution reaction
Cite this article:
Zhou J, Wang F, Wang H, et al. Ferrocene-induced switchable preparation of metal-nonmetal codoped tungsten nitride and carbide nanoarrays for electrocatalytic HER in alkaline and acid media. Nano Research, 2023, 16(2): 2085-2093. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4901-6
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Transition metal nitride/carbide (TMN/C) have been actively explored as low-cost hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts owing to their Pt-like physical and chemical properties. Unfortunately, pure TMN/C suffers from strong hydrogen adsorption and lacks active centers for water dissociation. Herein, we developed a switchable WO3-based in situ gas–solid reaction for preparing sophisticated Fe-N doped WC and Fe-C doped WN nanoarrays. Interestingly, the switch of codoping and phase can be effectively manipulated by regulating the amount of ferrocene. Resultant Fe-C-WN and Fe-N-WC exhibit robust electrocatalytic performance for HER in alkaline and acid electrolytes, respectively. The collective collaboration of morphological, phase and electronic effects are suggested to be responsible for the superior HER activity. The smallest |ΔGH*| value of Fe-N-WC indicates preferable hydrogen-evolving kinetics on the Fe-N-WC surface for HER under acid condition, while Fe-C-WN is suggested to be beneficial to the adsorption and dissociation of H2O for HER in alkaline electrolyte.


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About this article

Ferrocene-induced switchable preparation of metal-nonmetal codoped tungsten nitride and carbide nanoarrays for electrocatalytic HER in alkaline and acid media

Show Author's information Jian Zhou1,§, Fanfan Wang2,§, Haiqing Wang1,§( ), Shuxian Hu2( ), Weijia Zhou1, Hong Liu1,3( )
Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research (iAIR), School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Jinan, Jinan 250022, China
Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China

§ Jian Zhou, Fanfan Wang, and Haiqing Wang contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Transition metal nitride/carbide (TMN/C) have been actively explored as low-cost hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts owing to their Pt-like physical and chemical properties. Unfortunately, pure TMN/C suffers from strong hydrogen adsorption and lacks active centers for water dissociation. Herein, we developed a switchable WO3-based in situ gas–solid reaction for preparing sophisticated Fe-N doped WC and Fe-C doped WN nanoarrays. Interestingly, the switch of codoping and phase can be effectively manipulated by regulating the amount of ferrocene. Resultant Fe-C-WN and Fe-N-WC exhibit robust electrocatalytic performance for HER in alkaline and acid electrolytes, respectively. The collective collaboration of morphological, phase and electronic effects are suggested to be responsible for the superior HER activity. The smallest |ΔGH*| value of Fe-N-WC indicates preferable hydrogen-evolving kinetics on the Fe-N-WC surface for HER under acid condition, while Fe-C-WN is suggested to be beneficial to the adsorption and dissociation of H2O for HER in alkaline electrolyte.

Keywords: hydrogen evolution, gas–solid reaction, tungsten nitride/carbide, codoping, phase regulation

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 23 June 2022
Revised: 11 August 2022
Accepted: 13 August 2022
Published: 02 September 2022
Issue date: February 2023

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. ZR2019BB025), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21976014 and U1930402), The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (FRF-TP-20-11B and FRF-BR-20-02B), and the generous computer time from TianHe2-JK Supercomputer Center.

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