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Research Article

Synthesis and electrocatalytic applications of flower-like motifs and associated composites of nitrogen-enriched tungsten nitride (W2N3)

Sha Tan1, Brian M. Tackett2, Qun He2, Ji Hoon Lee2, Jingguang G. Chen2,3( ), Stanislaus S. Wong1( )
Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-3400, USA
Department of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
Chemistry Department, Building 555, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA
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Abstract

We have sought to improve the electrocatalytic performance of tungsten nitride through synthetic control over chemical composition and morphology. In particular, we have generated a thermodynamically unstable but catalytically promising nitrogen-rich phase of tungsten via a hydrothermal generation of a tungsten oxide intermediate and subsequent annealing in ammonia. The net product consisted of three-dimensional (3D) micron-scale flower-like motifs of W2N3; this architecture not only evinced high structural stability but also incorporated the favorable properties of constituent two-dimensional nanosheets. From a performance perspective, as-prepared 3D W2N3 demonstrated promising hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activities, especially in an acidic environment with a measured overpotential value of -101 mV at a current density of 10 mA/cm2. To further enhance the electrocatalytic activity, small amounts of precious metal nanoparticles (such as Pt and Au), consisting of variable sizes, were uniformly deposited onto the underlying 3D W2N3 motifs using a facile direct deposition method; these composites were applied towards the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). A highlight of this series of experiments was that Au/W2N3 composites were found to be a much more active HER (as opposed to either a CO2RR or a methanol oxidation reaction (MOR)) catalyst.

Keywords

tungsten nitridesynthesiscompositemorphology controlelectrocatalysis

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Nano Research
Volume 13 Issue 5,
May 2020
Pages 1434-1443
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-020-2687-y
Cite this article:
Tan S, Tackett BM, He Q, et al. Synthesis and electrocatalytic applications of flower-like motifs and associated composites of nitrogen-enriched tungsten nitride (W2N3). Nano Research, 2020, 13(5): 1434-1443. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2687-y
Topics:
Electrocatalysis Hydrogen evolution reaction Metal nanoparticlesMorphologyNitridesSynthesis (chemical)

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Received: 27 November 2019
Revised: 14 January 2020
Accepted: 29 January 2020
Published: 09 March 2020
© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
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