Defect Engineering of Sb₂Te₃ through Different Doses of Ion Irradiation to Boost Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Performance

Abstract

Two-dimensional transition-metal chalcogenides (TMCs) have great potential as high-efficiency hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts to replace the traditional noble-metal catalysts. Although many strategies have been developed to improve the efficiency of the HER of TMCs, how to accurately and appropriately regulate the catalyst to increase the catalytic activity remains a challenge. Here, this work reports a strategy for regulating the defects of Sb2Te3 by ion irradiation technology to improve the activity of HER and studies the effect of irradiation dose on material properties in detail. Electrochemical tests show that compared with the original Sb2Te3, the HER performance of Sb2Te3 irradiated with Fe10+ is significantly improved in an acidic solution. Through the analysis of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images, it is found that various defects appear on the surface of Sb2Te3 after irradiation with iron ions. The generation of defects not only increases the active sites but also improves the conductivity of the material. It is worth noting that the Fe10+ irradiation changes the surface hydrophilicity of the Sb2Te3 material and accelerates the desorption of hydrogen bubbles, which can expose the active sites in time and reduce the damage to the material caused by the desorption of large bubbles. This strategy of regulating the surface defects of materials by changing the irradiation dose provides an idea for the performance control of electrocatalysts.

Engineering the spin configuration of electrocatalysts for electrochemical renewable conversions

“…This can induce a spin state transition of the active center. 95,97 Traditional methods to create defects include thermal annealing, 98,99 acid etching, 100,101 ion radiation, 102 ball milling 103,104 and plasma etching, 105,106 etc. For instance, as a common research object in spin-catalysis, cationic defects can be constructed at A or B sites by thermal annealing of perovskite materials.…”

Insights into the Dynamic Evolution of Defects in Electrocatalysts

“…For instance, Wang et al applied Fe 10+ ion to irradiate the Sb 2 Te 3 material, resulting in multiple vacancies and planar defects on crystal plane. [69] These defects accelerated the desorption of hydrogen and improved the HER on Sb 2 Te 3 catalyst. Besides, non-metal ion was also developed for irradiation.…”

First application of antimony(iii) corrole for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution

“…11,12 Antimony-containing materials have a broad spectrum of applications in hydrogen evolution; RuSb has an overpotential of only 35 mV for catalytic currents up to 10 mA cm −2 in alkaline seawater systems. 13 The surface defects of Sb 2 Te 3 [14][15][16] are adjusted by irradiation with high-energy ions, such as Fe 10+ , He 2+ , and N + , so that prepared materials have excellent HER performance, with faradaic efficiency exceeding 95%. Due to the large number of active sites and modulated electronic structures induced by nickel and antimony alloying, the Sbdoped Ni film exhibits a low overpotential of 298 mV at a current density of 100 mA cm −2 .…”