The construction of highly active bifunctional electrocatalyst of VS4/Ni3S2 heterostructure for electrochemical water splitting

Abstract

With the crises of global energy and environmental issues, hydrogen acted as energy carrier are ideal substituent for fossil energy. To develop efficient electrocatalyst towards both HER and OER is crucial for accelerating the wide range of use of electrochemical water splitting technology to produce hydrogen.VS 4 with unsaturated S 2 2- are often used in metal-ion batteries, but rarely was used in electrocatalysis. So, a kind of F-doped VS 4 /Ni 3 S 2 supported on NF was designed and prepared by two-step method. Through adjusting the prepared conditions, the electron environment of Ni and V element is changed due to the interface interaction of VS 4 and Ni 3 S 2 under the incorporation. The optimal VS 4 /Ni 3 S 2 electrode provides 10 mA cm -2 at 91 and 240 mV for HER and OER, respectively. As a bifunctional electrocatalyst, VS 4 /Ni 3 S 2 -4F/NF||VS 4 /Ni 3 S 2 -4F/NF needs 1.59 V to drive10 mA cm -2 . The good performance should be benefiting from the tuned electron state, enhanced ECSA and low Rct. We pave the way for constructing the active heterostructure including the VS 4 components.