Controlling basal plane sulfur vacancy in water splitting MoSx/NiF electrocatalysts through electric-field-assisted pulsed laser ablation
Chaudry Sajed Saraj,
Subhash C. Singh,
Roshan Ali,
Abhishek Shukla,
Gopal Verma,
Ting Ting Zou,
Weili Yu,
Wei Li,
Chunlei Guo
Affiliations
Chaudry Sajed Saraj
GPL Photonics Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Applications, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130033, P. R. China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing 100049, China
Subhash C. Singh
The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA; Corresponding author
Roshan Ali
GPL Photonics Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Applications, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130033, P. R. China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing 100049, China
Abhishek Shukla
GPL Photonics Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Applications, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130033, P. R. China
Gopal Verma
GPL Photonics Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Applications, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130033, P. R. China
Ting Ting Zou
GPL Photonics Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Applications, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130033, P. R. China
Weili Yu
GPL Photonics Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Applications, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130033, P. R. China
Wei Li
GPL Photonics Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Applications, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130033, P. R. China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing 100049, China; Corresponding author
Chunlei Guo
The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA; Corresponding author
Summary: Eco-friendly, efficient, and durable electrocatalysts from earth-abundant materials are crucial for water splitting through hydrogen and oxygen generation. However, available methods to fabricate electrocatalysts are either hazardous and time-consuming or require expensive equipment, hindering the large-scale, eco-friendly production of artificial fuels. Here, we present a rapid, single-step method for producing MoSx/NiF electrocatalysts with controlled sulfur-vacancies via electric-field-assisted pulsed laser ablation (EF-PLA) in liquid and in-situ deposition on nickel foam, enabling efficient water splitting. Electric-field parameters efficiently control S-vacancy active sites in electrocatalysts. Higher electric fields yield a MoSx/NiF electrocatalyst with a larger density of S-vacancy sites, suited for HER due to lower Gibbs free energy for H∗ adsorption, while lower electric fields produce an electrocatalyst with lower S-vacancy sites, better suited for OER, as shown by both experimental and theoretical results. The present work opens a horizon in designing high-efficiency catalysts, for a wide range of chemical reactions.
