Authors: Thangavel Kavinkumar, Heejae Yang, Amarnath Thangavel Sivagurunathan, Hayoung Jeong, Jeong Woo Han, Do‐Heyoung Kim
Published: 2023-04-17
Source: Full article
AbstractTwo essential characteristics that are required for hybrid electrocatalysts to exhibit higher oxygen and hydrogen evolution reaction (OER and HER, respectively) activity are a favorable electronic configuration and a sufficient density of active sites at the interface between the two materials within the hybrid. In the present study, a hybrid electrocatalyst is introduced with a novel architecture consisting of coral‐like iron nitride (Fe2N) arrays and tungsten nitride (W2N3) nanosheets that satisfies these requirements. The resulting W2N3/Fe2N catalyst achieves high OER activity (268.5 mV at 50 mA cm−2) and HER activity (85.2 mV at 10 mA cm−2) with excellent long‐term durability in an alkaline medium. In addition, density functional theory calculations reveal that the individual band centers experience an upshift in the hybrid W2N3/Fe2N structure, thus improving the OER and HER activity. The strategy adopted here thus provides a valuable guide for the fabrication of cost‐effective multi‐metallic crystalline hybrids for use as multifunctional electrocatalysts.