Ionic Liquid Modified Active Edge‐Rich Antimonene Nanodots for Highly Efficient Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) monoelemental antimonene has aroused great research interest since it emerged as a promising electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Nevertheless, the catalytic efficiency of the reported antimonene catalysts has been limited by their poor conductivity and lowdensity of exposed active sites. Herein, the active edge sites engineering is adopted to expose abundant catalytically active edge sites by decreasing the size of antimonene nanosheets to ultrasmall-sized antimonene nanodots (AMNDs). Meanwhile, the synergy effect of the surface modulation strategy by decorating the base surface of AMNDs using the ionic liquid benefits the mass transfer during the HER process. Impressively, the ionic liquid modified AMNDs (noted as IL-AMNDs) achieve a low overpotential of 116 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm À 2 and excellent long-term durability, even superior to many other previously reported 2D catalysts. This work spreads the way out for the development of highly active and efficient hydrogen production catalysts.

Energy Applications of Ionic Liquids: Recent Developments and Future Prospects

“…Beyond serving as electrolytes in fuel cells, solar cells, and thermoelectric cells, ILs also demonstrate promising potential for electroreduction applications. They can be utilized as electrolytes, , additives, precursors of electrode synthesis, cocatalyst and modifiers of electrocatalyst . This section focuses on recent research progress regarding the use of ILs as electrolytes involving carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) electroreduction (ER) and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).…”

“…They can be utilized as electrolytes, 54,260 additives, 338 precursors of electrode synthesis, 248 cocatalyst 339 and modifiers of electrocatalyst. 340 This section focuses on recent research progress regarding the use of ILs as electrolytes involving carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) electroreduction (ER) and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). 341 The conversion of CO 2 into fuels and chemicals is an attractive approach for achieving carbon neutrality.…”

Ionic Liquids as Promisingly Multi-Functional Participants for Electrocatalyst of Water Splitting: A Review

“…They functionalized in situ carbon nanotubes (CNT) catalysts through a series of imidazolium-based IL, denoted as CNTs−IM−X (X = Br − , Cl − , BF 4 − and PF 6 − ), and proved that CNT modified using ILs presented superior electrocatalytic performance for HER than unmodified CNT. Theoretical and experimental results show that the functionalization of CNT with imidazolium-based IL not only promotes the electron transfer process but also acts as the electron receptor with excellent hydrogen adsorption ability, benefiting the mass transfer during the water splitting process [ 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ]. In addition, different anions of ILs lead to a different catalytic performance.…”

Regulation of Rate‐Determining Step on (RhxNi1‐x)2P for Enhanced Alkaline Hydrogen Oxidation Reaction

“…With the increasingly serious energy and environmental issues, hydrogen has been considered as one of the best alternatives for fossil fuel owing to its clean, effective and renewable features. [1][2][3][4][5] Hydrogen fuel cells have become the key to converting hydrogen to electrical energy. [6][7][8] Currently, compared with the commercialized proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFC) have received considerable attentions due to the remarkable performance of non-noble metal materials as catalysts for the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) under alkaline electrolyte.…”

“…With the increasingly serious energy and environmental issues, hydrogen has been considered as one of the best alternatives for fossil fuel owing to its clean, effective and renewable features [1–5] . Hydrogen fuel cells have become the key to converting hydrogen to electrical energy [6–8] .…”