Boosting Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Activities of Three-Dimensional Flower-like Tungsten Carbonitride via Anion Regulation

Abstract

Exploring high active, durable, and earth-abundant electrocatalysts for sustainable hydrogen production is a necessary prerequisite of the future hydrogen economy. Herein, anion regulation of a three-dimensional (3D) flower-like tungsten-based heterostructure supported on nickel foam is demonstrated to play a crucial role in boosting the catalytic performance of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). At high temperature (700 °C), the volatile CNx species decomposed from urea are captured by WO3 on the nickel foam, and then, the insufficient nitridation and carbonization occurred simultaneously, forming an N-doped W2C/WC heterostructure (N-W2C/WC-700). The resulting N-W2C/WC array exhibits a small overpotential of 63 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm–2 and a low Tafel slope of 73 mV dec–1 in alkaline media, accompanied by a negligible loss after 60 h. This work highlights a potentially facile solid-state synthesis strategy for controllable anion regulation and the rational design of the 3D self-supporting carbonitrides, which may provide a feasible interface engineering strategy for constructing other advanced energy materials.