刘佳

Developing low-cost, highly efficient, and robust earth-abundant electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is critical for the scalable production of clean and sustainable hydrogen fuel through electrochemical water splitting. This study presents a facile approach for the synthesis of nanostructured pyrite-phase transition metal dichalcogenides as highly active, earth-abundant catalysts in electrochemical hydrogen production. Iron disulfide (FeS₂) nanoparticles are in situ loaded and stabilized on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) through a current-induced high-temperature rapid thermal shock (≈12 ms) of crushed iron pyrite powder. FeS₂ nanoparticles embedded in between RGO exhibit remarkably improved electrocatalytic performance for HER, achieving 10 mA cm⁻² current at an overpotential as low as 139 mV versus a reversible hydrogen electrode with outstanding long-term stability under acidic conditions. The presented strategy for the design and synthesis of highly active earth-abundant nanomaterial catalysts paves the way for low-cost and large-scale electrochemical energy applications.

This work presents a facile approach for the synthesis of nanostructured pyrite-phase transition metal dichalcogenides as highly active, earth-abundant catalysts in electrochemical hydrogen production. Numerous ultrafine iron disulfide (FeS₂) nanoparticles (10–20 nm) are evenly loaded in situ on graphene through current-induced high-temperature thermal shock of iron pyrite powder in an ultrashort time (≈12 ms).

In article number 1601671, Ruqiang Zou and co-workers introduce a novel facile bottom-up strategy for the synthesis of metal organic frameworks derived cobalt phosphide architecture encapsulated into boron and nitrogen co-doped graphene (CoP@BCN) nanotubes through pyrolysis and phosphidation-controlled methods. The new and advanced materials of CoP@BCN nanotubes exhibit excellent activity for all pH value electrochemical hydrogen evolution.

The MXenes combining hydrophilic surface, metallic conductivity and rich surface chemistries represent a new family of 2D materials with widespread applications. However, their poor oxygen resistance causes a great loss of electronic properties and surface reactivity, which significantly inhibits the fabrication, the understanding of the chemical nature and full exploitation of the potential of MXene-based materials. Herein we report a facile carbon nanoplating strategy for efficiently stabilizing the MXenes against structural degradation caused by spontaneous oxidation, which provides a material platform for developing MXene-based materials with attractive structure and properties. Hierarchical MoS₂/Ti₃C₂-MXene@C nanohybrids with excellent structural stability, electrical properties and strong interfacial coupling are fabricated by assembling carbon coated few-layered MoS₂ nanoplates on carbon-stabilized Ti₃C₂ MXene, exhibiting exceptional performance for Li storage and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Remarkably, ultra-long cycle life of 3000 cycles with high capacities but extremely slow capacity loss of 0.0016% per cycle is achieved for Li storage at a very high rate of 20 A g⁻¹. They are also highly active HER electrocatalyst with very positive onset potential, low overpotential and long-term stability in acidic solution. Superb properties highlight the great promise of MXene-based materials in cornerstone applications of energy storage and conversion.

A facile yet efficient strategy is developed for stabilizing metastable MXenes against oxidation-induced structural degradation and the fabrication of high-performance MXene-based nanohybrids. The great promise of MXene-based materials in cornerstone applications for energy storage and conversion is highlighted by using MoS₂/Ti₃C₂-MXene@C nanohybrids as ultralong-life anode materials in Li-ion batteries and a highly active electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution.