Boosting Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Activities of Three-Dimensional Flower-like Tungsten Carbonitride via Anion Regulation

Exploring high active, durable, and earth-abundant electrocatalysts for sustainable hydrogen production is a necessary prerequisite of the future hydrogen economy. Herein, anion regulation of a three-dimensional (3D) flower-like tungsten-based heterostructure supported on nickel foam is demonstrated to play a crucial role in boosting the catalytic performance of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). At high temperature (700 degrees C), the volatile CNx species decomposed from urea are captured by WO3 on the nickel foam, and then, the insufficient nitridation and carbonization occurred simultaneously, forming an N-doped W2C/WC heterostructure (N-W2C/WC-700). The resulting N-W2C/WC array exhibits a small overpotential of 63 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm(-2) and a low Tafel slope of 73 mV dec(-1) in alkaline media, accompanied by a negligible loss after 60 h. This work highlights a potentially facile solid-state synthesis strategy for controllable anion regulation and the rational design of the 3D self-supporting carbonitrides, which may provide a feasible interface engineering strategy for constructing other advanced energy materials.