Preparation and Study of Ti3C2Tx MXene–Deficient In Situ Anchored Fe−Co Alloy Nanoparticle Electrocatalyst for Hydrolysis and Hydrogenolysis

Abstract

AbstractThe novel two–dimensional MXene material Ti3C2Tx has the advantages of a large specific surface area, adjustable band gap, good electrical conductivity, and high stability. However, the precipitation of hydrogen via electrolytic water splitting over Ti3C2Tx has unacceptably slow kinetics. In this paper, Co nanoparticles were incorporated on the Ti3C2TxMXene surface via electrostatic adsorption by utilizing the intrinsic MXene defects generated during the etching process. Next, a Fe−Co alloy structure was also constructed on the Ti3C2TxMXenesurface by wet chemical impregnation method using the principle of galvanic coupling substitution. The prepared catalyst had an overpotential of 118 mV at a current density of 10 mA‐cm−2 and a Tafel slope of 97.56 mV dec−1. The Fe−Co alloy structure accelerated the kinetic hydrogen precipitation step, and Fe−Co/Ti3C2Txshowed excellent stability when used in a water electrolysis process for 11 h. This work offers a promising strategy for the synthesis of intrinsically defective synthetic alloy MXene structures.