The Weyl Semimetals MIrTe4 (M = Nb, Ta) as Efficient Catalysts for Dye-sensitized Hydrogen Evolution

Abstract

The prevalent global energy crisis calls for searching viable pathways for generating green hydrogen as an alternative energy resource. Dye-sensitized photocatalytic water splitting is a feasible solution to produce green hydrogen. However, identifying suitable catalysts has been one of the bottlenecks in driving dye-sensitized photocatalysis efficiently. In this work, we report a new class of electrocatalysts based on the layered Weyl semimetals MIrTe4 (M = Nb, Ta) for the Eosin Y (EY)-sensitized hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under visible light illumination. NbIrTe4 and TaIrTe4 exhibit HER activities of ~ 18000 and ~ 14000 mol.g-1, respectively after 10h of irradiation with visible light. Time-dependent UV-Vis spectroscopy and high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy analysis shed light on the reaction dynamics and enable deeper understanding of the observed trend in hydrogen evolution rates for MIrTe4 materials. MIrTe4 (M = Nb, Ta) semimetals outperform related catalysts including transition metal dichalcogenides and other Weyl semimetals in terms of HER activity using EY as photosensitizer and triethanolamine as the sacrificial agent. We hypothesize that the topology-related band inversion in MIrTe4 Weyl semimetals promotes a high density of metal d-states near the Fermi level, driving their high catalytic performance. This study introduces a new class of layered Weyl semimetals as efficient catalysts, and provides perspectives for designing topology-enhanced catalysts.

Drumhead surface states promoted hydrogen evolution reactions in type-II nodal-line topological catalyst Mg3Bi2

“…Remarkably, the two above-mentioned properties have been experimentally confirmed. 11,[26][27][28] In fact, recent research results have also confirmed the feasibility of topological materials, such as topological insulators Bi 2 Se 3 and Bi 2 Te 3 , 29,30 Weyl semimetal TaAs family, 8 TaTe 4 31 and NiSi, 32 multifold degenerate semimetals PtGa, PtAl, Nb 2 S 2 C and C12A7:4e À , [33][34][35] nodal line semimetal TiSi family 22 and semiconductor MoS 2 with floating surface states 36 in the field of catalysis. At present, the topological quantum catalysts are still in the initial stage, and exploring ideal topological quantum catalysts is particularly important.…”

“…At present, the study and calculations of topological catalysts using PBE-D2 have obtained good test results. [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] The HER of Mg 3 Bi 2 was performed in the supercell structure of dimension 2 Â 2 Â 4.…”