Atmospheric‐Pressure Synthesis of 2D Nitrogen‐Rich Tungsten Nitride

• DOI: 10.1002/adma.201805655
• Publication Date: 2018-10-25T06:46:35Z
• Authors: Huimin Yu; Xin Yang; Xu Xiao; Ming Chen; Qinghua Zhang; Liang Huang; Jiabing Wu; Tianqi Li; Shuangming Chen; Li Song; Lin Gu; Bao Yu Xia; Guang Feng; Jia Li; Jun Zhou
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology

Abstract2D transition metal nitrides, especially nitrogen‐rich tungsten nitrides (WxNy, y > x), such as W3N4 and W2N3, have a great potential for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) since the catalytic activity is largely enhanced by the abundant WN bonding. However, the rational synthesis of 2D nitrogen‐rich tungsten nitrides is challenging due to the large formation energy of WN bonding. Herein, ultrathin 2D hexagonal‐W2N3 (h‐W2N3) flakes are synthesized at atmospheric pressure via a salt‐templated method. The formation energy of h‐W2N3 can be dramatically decreased owing to the strong interaction and domain matching epitaxy between KCl and h‐W2N3. 2D h‐W2N3 demonstrates an excellent catalytic activity for cathodic HER with an onset potential of −30.8 mV as well as an overpotential of −98.2 mV for 10 mA cm−2.