Phase engineering and N doping modulated MoSe2 nanosheets for large-current–density hydrogen evolution in simulated seawater

Abstract

Molybdenum selenide (MoSe2) is considered to be a promising catalyst for seawater hydrogen evolution, but its catalytic activity falls far short of requirements due to its inert surface. Here, self-supported N-doped 1T@2H-MoSe2/N doped carbon paper (N-MoSe2/NCP) was fabricated by a novel low-temperature nitrogen plasma strategy. In alkaline simulated seawater, the optimized N-MoSe2/NCP-30 only requires an overpotential of 274 mV to reach −200 mA cm−2 with Tafel slope of 54.7 mV dec-1, and exhibits stability over 24 h. This work proposes that the introduction of 1 T phase and N dopant into 2H-MoSe2 using low-temperature plasma strategy can significantly facilitate the exposure of abundant active edge sites and boost the conductivity of MoSe2.