Activation of rhodium selenides for boosted hydrogen evolution reaction via heterostructure construction

Constructing a high-performance hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalyst is significantly desirable to realize electrochemical splitting of water to massively produce hydrogen. In this work, we have activated rhodium selenides by incorporation of metallic Rh to form RheRh(3)Se(4) heterostructure at atomic level to regulate the electronic configuration of Rh3Se4. Due to the presence of metallic Rh, the HER activity of RheRh(3)Se(4)/C is boosted requiring an ultralow overpotentials of 32 mV and 29 mV to attain 10 mA cm(-2) in acidic and alkaline electrolyte with 14.3 mgRh cm(-2), respectively, corresponding to 11- and 6.5-fold better mass activity than commercial Pt/C at overpotential of 50 mV. The exceptional HER performance is attributed to the metallic Rh efficiently weakening the strong binding strength between Rh3Se4 and hydrogen ions associated with constructing electronic path to decrease the charge transfer resistance due to the electronic enrichment at Fermi level. Besides, owing to the strong electronic interaction between metallic Rh and Rh3Se4, a superior HER stability is also achieved. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

By activating rhodium selenides and forming a rhodium selenide/carbon material heterostructure, the activity of hydrogen evolution reaction has been significantly enhanced with lower overpotentials in both acidic and alkaline electrolytes. The exceptional performance is attributed to the presence of metallic rhodium, which efficiently weakens the strong binding strength between Rh3Se4 and hydrogen ions, leading to improved charge transfer.