ChemComm
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COMMUNICATION
DOI: 10.1039/C5CC02472B
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HER activity, as the oxide core facilitates electron transfer during
the HER.14 In addition, componentꢀcontrollable WS2(1ꢀx)Se2x
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In summary, we have demonstrated the positive impact of oxides in
WS2ꢀbased nanostructures on the enhancement of HER performance.
The partially sulfidized W18O49@WS2 NRs showed superior HER
activity compared to the fully sulfidized WS2 NTs. The higher HER
activities of W18O49@WS2 NRs could be attributed to the existence
of the oxide core, facilitating electron transfer during the HER
process. Furthermore, we confirmed that the samples that underwent
oxidative preꢀtreatment showed higher HER activity than those that
underwent reductive preꢀtreatment. The enhanced HER performance
of W18O49@WS2 NRs was yet still lower than those of highly active
HER catalysts due to their nested structures, impeding the maximum
usage of active edge plane. Such a structural disadvantage can be
counterbalanced by exploiting transition metal promotion to
modulate the free energy of hydrogen adsorption, by exfoliating the
multilayer W18O49@WS2 NRs, and by employing conductive
additives such as carbon nanomaterials. Furthermore, in order to
better understand the influence of the oxide core on HER, we will
investigate the relationship between the sulfidization level and the
HER activity, by preparation of the coreꢀshell nanorods with
different amount of the sulfide layers or different diameter of the
oxide core. Finally, we envisage that this approach can be extended
to other transition metal sulfides and is applicable to a range of
catalytic reactions.
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through the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea (NRFꢀ
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Notes and references
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