Dual-template engineering of triple-layered nanoarray electrode of metal chalcogenides sandwiched with hydrogen-substituted graphdiyne

Hybrid nanostructures integrating electroactive materials with functional species, such as metal-organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, graphdiyne etc., are of significance for both fundamental research and energy conversion/storage applications. Here, hierarchical triple-layered nanotube arrays, which consist of hydrogen-substituted graphdiyne frameworks seamlessly sandwiched between an outer layer of nickel–cobalt co-doped molybdenum disulfide nanosheets and an inner layer of mixed cobalt sulfide and nickel sulfide (Co₉S₈/Ni₃S₂), are directly fabricated on conductive carbon paper. The elaborate triple-layered structure emerges as a useful hybrid electrode for energy conversion and storage, in which the organic hydrogen-substituted graphdiyne middle layer, with an extended π-conjugated system between the electroactive nanomaterials, provides built-in electron and ion channels that are crucial for performance enhancement. This dual-template synthetic method, which makes use of microporous organic networks to confine a self-template, is shown to be versatile and thus provides a promising platform for advanced nanostructure-engineering of hierarchical multi-layered nanostructures towards a wide range of electrochemical applications.

Multi-shelled nanomaterials offer interesting electrochemical properties, but have been limited in composition. Here the authors use dual templating to integrate electroactive metal chalcogenide layers with hydrogen-substituted graphdiyne, achieving electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution.