Promising Water Splitting Applications of Synergistically Assembled Robust Orthorhombic CoSe2 and 2D Ti3C2Tx MXene Hybrids

Mo-based MXenes: Synthesis, properties, and applications

Ti-MXene allows a range of possibilities to tune their compositional stoichiometry due to their electronic and electrochemical properties. Other than conventionally explored Ti-MXene, there have been ample opportunities for the non-Ti-based MXenes, especially the emerging Mo-based MXenes. Mo-MXenes are established to be remarkable with optoelectronic and electrochemical properties, tuned energy, catalysis, and sensing applications. In this timely review, we systematically discuss the various organized synthesis procedures, associated experimental tunning parameters, physiochemical properties, structural evaluation, stability challenges, key findings, and a wide range of applications of emerging Mo-MXene over Ti-MXenes. We also critically examined the precise control of Mo-MXenes to cater to advanced applications by comprehensively evaluating the summary of recent studies using artificial intelligence and machine learning tools. The critical future perspectives, significant challenges, and possible outlooks for successfully developing and using Mo-MXenes for various practical applications are highlighted.

Electrostatic co-assembly of FePS3 nanosheets and surface functionalized BCN heterostructures for hydrogen evolution reaction

Advances in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are intricately connected with addressing the current energy crisis and quest for sustainable energy sources. The necessity of catalysts that are efficient and inexpensive to perform the hydrogen evolution reaction is key to this. Following the ground-breaking discovery of graphene, metal thio/seleno phosphates (MPX3: M - transition metal, P - phosphorus and X - S/Se), two dimensional (2D) materials, exhibit excellent tunable physicochemical, electronic and optical properties, and are expected to be key to the energy industry for years to come. Taking this into account, a facile time-effective electrostatic restacking synthesis procedure has been followed to synthesize a 2D/2D heterostructure (FePS3@BCN) involving FePS3, one of the prominent MPX3 materials, with borocarbonitride (BCN), for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The piled up nanosheets of FePS3 and BCN are held together by an electrostatic force, and display extreme robustness under the harsh conditions of HER application. The amalgamated electrocatalyst achieved an overpotential of 187 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 with a shallow Tafel slope of 41 mV dec-1, following the Volmer-Heyrovsky mechanism. The resilience of the electrocatalyst has been examined through chronoamperometric testing for long term stability, and it is stable for more than 14 hours, which shows the excellent electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction owing to the strategic approach to the catalyst design, the use of numerous electrochemically active sites, large surface area and a barrier-free channel for quick ion transfer.