Femtosecond laser micro-nano processing for boosting bubble releasing of gas evolution reactions

The development of efficient and robust earth-abundant electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is an ongoing challenge. We report metallic cobalt pyrite (cobalt disulfide, CoS2) as one such high-activity candidate material and demonstrate that its specific morphology--film, microwire, or nanowire, made available through controlled synthesis--plays a crucial role in determining its overall catalytic efficacy. The increase in effective electrode surface area that accompanies CoS2 micro- and nanostructuring substantially boosts its HER catalytic performance, with CoS2 nanowire electrodes achieving geometric current densities of -10 mA cm(-2) at overpotentials as low as -145 mV vs the reversible hydrogen electrode. Moreover, micro- and nanostructuring of the CoS2 material has the synergistic effect of increasing its operational stability, cyclability, and maximum achievable rate of hydrogen generation by promoting the release of evolved gas bubbles from the electrode surface. The benefits of catalyst micro- and nanostructuring are further demonstrated by the increased electrocatalytic activity of CoS2 nanowire electrodes over planar film electrodes toward polysulfide and triiodide reduction, which suggests a straightforward way to improve the performance of quantum dot- and dye-sensitized solar cells, respectively. Extension of this micro- and nanostructuring strategy to other earth-abundant materials could similarly enable inexpensive electrocatalysts that lack the high intrinsic activity of the noble metals.

The adhesion of as-formed gas bubbles on the electrode surface usually impedes mass-transfer kinetics and subsequently decreases electrolysis efficiency. Here it is demonstrated that nanostructured MoS₂ films on conductive substrates show a faster hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), current increase, and a more-stable working state than their flat counterpart by significantly alleviating the adhesion of as-formed gas bubbles on the electrode. This study clearly reveals the importance of a nano-porous structure for HER, which should be general and beneficial for constructing other gas-evolution electrodes.

Tungsten carbide is one of the most promising electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction, although it exhibits sluggish kinetics due to a strong tungsten-hydrogen bond. In addition, tungsten carbide’s catalytic activity toward the oxygen evolution reaction has yet to be reported. Here, we introduce a superaerophobic nitrogen-doped tungsten carbide nanoarray electrode exhibiting high stability and activity toward hydrogen evolution reaction as well as driving oxygen evolution efficiently in acid. Nitrogen-doping and nanoarray structure accelerate hydrogen gas release from the electrode, realizing a current density of −200 mA cm−2 at the potential of −190 mV vs. reversible hydrogen electrode, which manifest one of the best non-noble metal catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction. Under acidic conditions (0.5 M sulfuric acid), water splitting catalyzed by nitrogen-doped tungsten carbide nanoarray starts from about 1.4 V, and outperforms most other water splitting catalysts.