Defect Engineering in Two-Dimensional Layered PdTe2 for Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

As a fascinating innovative class of effective catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), transition-metal tellurides have emerged as attractive materials, but they are still suffering from their intrinsic activity for practical applications. Defect engineering constitutes a promising strategy to optimize the electronic configuration of the catalyst and further improve the HER activity. Herein, we present the successful fabrication of PdTe2-based catalysts with three different types of vacancies (d-PdTex), including single Pd, Te defect site, and double Te defect sites, by using a two-step method. The obtained d-PdTex demonstrated a remarkable HER activity with an overpotential of 76 mV at 10 mA cm–2 without iR compensation, which is far lower than that of bulk PdTe2 (259 mV). The procedure followed in this work may be extended to generate defect sites in a range of different two-dimensional materials, thus further expanding their potential application fields.