Citation: Zhuojun Duan, Peiyue Jin, Houying Xing, Jian Chen, Yueting Yang, Yawen Tan, Song Liu. Salt-assisted synthesis of WTe₂ contact electrodes for efficient MoS₂-based hydrogen evolution reaction[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(2): 111917. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111917 shu

Salt-assisted synthesis of WTe₂ contact electrodes for efficient MoS₂-based hydrogen evolution reaction

Zhuojun Duan ^{a, 1} ,
Peiyue Jin ^{b, 1} ,
Houying Xing ^a ,
Jian Chen ^a ,
Yueting Yang ^a ,
Yawen Tan ^a ,
Song Liu ^{a, *,}

a.
State Key Laboratory of Chemo and Biosensing, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
b.
Key Laboratory of Food & Environment & Drug Monitoring and Testing of Universities in Hunan Province, Hunan Police Academy, Changsha 410138, China

liusong@hnu.edu.cn

Received Date: 19 June 2025
Revised Date: 25 September 2025
Accepted Date: 28 September 2025
Available Online: 29 September 2025

Figures(5)

The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is crucial for hydrogen production and sustainable energy storage. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂), a representative transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), shows potential as an HER catalyst but suffers from limited performance due to poor charge transfer and interfacial effects. Here, we report a salt-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method for synthesizing high-quality tungsten ditelluride (WTe₂) with tunable morphologies using alkali halides (NaCl, KCl and LiCl). The prepared WTe₂ nanoribbons and hexagonal nanosheets exhibit morphology-dependent electrical conductivity, with nanosheets showing superior performance. To evaluate WTe₂ as a contact electrode, WTe₂−MoS₂ heterostructures were fabricated and compared with graphene-MoS₂ counterparts. The WTe₂−MoS₂ heterostructure exhibits a superior Tafel slope of 111.57 mV/dec and an overpotential of 298 mV at -10 mA/cm², significantly outperforming graphene-based electrodes. This improvement is attributed to the excellent conductivity of WTe₂ and reduced interfacial Schottky barriers. Moreover, we systematically investigate the influence of WTe₂ thickness on HER performance and assess the electrochemical durability and structural stability of the heterostructure, further confirming the effectiveness of WTe₂ as a contact electrode for enhancing the HER activity of MoS₂. This study offers a novel approach for enhancing the HER performance of MoS₂ through controlled WTe₂ growth and application as a contact electrode. Our findings provide valuable insights into the synthesis of high-quality WTe₂ and broaden the potential applications of two-dimensional materials in energy catalysis.
- WTe₂,
- Alkali halides,
- Chemical vapor deposition,
- Transition metal dichalcogenides,
- Hydrogen evolution reaction
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Salt-assisted synthesis of WTe2 contact electrodes for efficient MoS2-based hydrogen evolution reaction

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通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com

Salt-assisted synthesis of WTe₂ contact electrodes for efficient MoS₂-based hydrogen evolution reaction