Systematic insights into NiMoO₄@NiX/MoX (X = S, Se, Te) heterojunction nanoarrays for alkaline hydrogen evolution.

Authors

Xiao Sun, Yan Cui, Qiuyue Xiang, Qiongyao Wei, Yuling Li, Qingcheng Zhang, Baosheng Wang, Zhiwei Liu, Heng Chen

Published in

Nanoscale. Oct 13, 2026. Epub Oct 13, 2026.

Abstract

Developing efficient and stable non-precious metal electrocatalysts capable of accelerating the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is crucial for sustainable hydrogen production. Herein, self-supported NiMoO₄@NiX/MoX (X = S, Se, Te) heterostructured nanoarrays were fabricated on nickel foam (NF) via a two-step hydrothermal method. Systematic investigations reveal that the introduction of chalcogenides effectively modulates the electronic structure and the oxygen vacancy (O_v) concentration of the catalysts. Notably, the NiMoO₄@NiTe₂/MoTe₂ heterostructure delivered the highest O_v concentration and Mo⁴⁺ active site density, driven by the low electronegativity and large atomic radius of tellurium (Te) atoms. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that chalcogen regulation shifts the d-band center, thereby optimizing hydrogen adsorption, with Te exhibiting the most favorable adsorption behavior for enhanced HER activity. Consequently, the NiMoO₄@NiTe₂/MoTe₂ catalyst required an overpotential of only 46 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm^-2 with a Tafel slope of 58.03 mV dec^-1, while maintaining stable operation for 70 h. The structure-activity relationships of chalcogenide heterostructures for alkaline hydrogen evolution are revealed in this work.

PMID:
42865309
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 13 Oct 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.