Evaluating the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Activity of Colloidally Prepared PtSe2 and PtTe2 Catalysts in an Alkaline Medium

Abstract

The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline electrolytes using transition metal dichalcogenides is a research area that is not tapped into. Alkaline HER ($$ ) is harder to achieve relative to acidic HER ($$ ), this is attributed to the additional water dissociation step that occurs in basic HER to generate H⁺ ions. In fact, for most catalysts, their HER activity decreases tremendously when the electrolyte is changed from acidic to basic conditions. Platinum dichalcogenides, PtX₂ (X=S, Se, Te), are an interesting member of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) as these show an immense hybridization of the Pt d orbitals and chalcogen p orbitals because of closely correlated orbital energies. The trend in electronic properties of these materials changes drastically as the chalcogen is changed, with PtS₂ reported to exhibit semi-conductor properties, PtSe₂ is semi-metallic or semi-conductive, depending on the number of layers, while PtTe₂ is metallic. The effect of varying the chalcogen atom on the HER activity of Pt dichalcogenides will be studied. Pt dichalcogenides have previously been prepared by direct high-temperature chalcogen deposition of Pt substrate and evaluated as electrocatalysts for HER in H₂SO₄. The previously employed synthesis procedures for PtX₂ limit these compounds′ mass production and post-synthesis treatment. In this study, we demonstrated, for the first time the preparation of PtSe₂ and PtTe₂ by colloidal synthesis. Colloidal synthesis offers the possibility of large-scale synthesis of materials and affords the employment of the colloids at various concentrations in ink formulation. The electrochemical HER results acquired in 1 M KOH indicate that PtTe₂ has a superior HER catalytic activity to PtSe₂. A potential of 108 mV for PtTe₂ and 161 mV for PtSe₂ is required to produce a current density of −10 mA cm⁻² from these catalysts. PtTe₂ has a low Tafel slope of 79 mVdec⁻¹, indicating faster HER kinetics on PtTe₂. Nonetheless, the stability of these catalysts in an alkaline medium needs to be improved to render them excellent HER electrocatalysts.