Optimization of nickel selenide for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions by response surface methodology

Design and construction of hollow metal sulfide/selenide core-shell heterostructure arrays for hybrid supercapacitor

Transition metal sulfides and selenides are common electrode materials in supercapacitors. However, the slow redox kinetics and structural collapse during charge-discharge cycles of single-component materials have impeded their electrochemical performance. In this study, hollow Co9S8 nanotubes were synthesized through a rational morphology design approach. Subsequently, NiSe2 or Co0.85Se was electrodeposited onto the Co9S8 nanotubes, yielding two core-shell heterostructure arrays, namely, NiSe2@Co9S8 and Co0.85Se@Co9S8. By fully leveraging the advantages and synergistic effects of these dual-phase heterostructures, the NiSe2@Co9S8 and Co0.85Se@Co9S8 configurations demonstrated outstanding areal capacitances of 12.54 F cm-2 and 9.61 F cm-2, respectively, at 2 mA cm-2. When integrated with activated carbon in hybrid supercapacitors, the NiSe2@Co9S8//AC and Co0.85Se@Co9S8//AC devices exhibited excellent energy storage performance, with energy densities of 0.959 mW h at 1.681 mW and 0.745 mW h at 1.569 mW, respectively. Additionally, these hybrid supercapacitors demonstrated remarkable cycling stability, with capacitance retention of 87.5% and 89.5% after 5000 cycles for NiSe2@Co9S8//AC and Co0.85Se@Co9S8//AC, respectively. This study provides a novel approach to the synthesis of multiphase core-shell heterostructures based on metal sulfides and selenides, opening new avenues for future research.

In-situ Surface Reconstruction of Single-crystal (NiFe)3Se4 Nano-pyramid Arrays for Efficient Oxygen Evolution

Transition metal-based selenides (TMSe) are considered as efficient pre-electrocatalysts towards oxygen evolution reaction (OER). However, the key factor in determining the surface reconstruction of TMSe under OER condition is not yet clear. Herein, we uncover that the crystallinity of TMSe will obviously impact the conversion degree from TMSe to transition metal oxyhydroxides (TMOOH) during OER. A novel single-crystal (NiFe)₃Se₄ nano-pyramid array grown on NiFe foam is fabricated by a facile one-step polyol process, which exhibits an excellent OER activity and stability, only requiring 170 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA cm^-2 and can sustain for more than 300 h. In situ Raman spectrum studies reveals that the single-crystal (NiFe)₃Se₄ is partially oxidized on its surface during OER, generating a dense heterostructure of (NiFe)OOH/(NiFe)₃Se₄. Benefiting from the in situ formed heterointerface, the adsorption of OER intermediates on Ni active sites calculated by density functional theory (DFT) analysis is optimized, leading to the reduced energy barrier, which accounts for the enhanced intrinsic activity. This work not only reports a novel single-crystal (NiFe)₃Se₄ nano-pyramid array electrocatalyst with high-efficient OER performance, but also gains a deep insight into the role of the crystallinity of TMSe on the surface reconstruction during OER.