Rational Design of Phase-Engineered WS2/WSe2 Heterostructures by Low-Temperature Plasma-Assisted Sulfurization and Selenization toward Enhanced HER Performance

Efficient hydrogen generation from water splitting underpins chemistry to realize hydrogen economy. The electrocatalytic activity can be effectively modified by two-dimensional (2D) heterostructures, which offer great flexibility. Furthermore, they are useful in enhancing the exposure of the active sites for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Although the 1T-metallic phase of the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) is important for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst, its practical application has not yet been much utilized because of the lack of stability of the 1T phase. Here, we introduce a novel approach to create a 1T-WS₂/1T-WSe₂ heterostructure using a low-temperature plasma-assisted chemical vapor reaction (PACVR), namely plasma-assisted sulfurization and plasma-assisted selenization processes. This heterostructure exhibits superior electrocatalytic performance due to the presence of the metallic 1T phase and the beneficial synergistic effect at the interface, which is attributed to the transfer of electrons from the underlying WS₂ layer to the overlying WSe₂ layer. The WS₂/WSe₂ heterostructure catalyst demonstrates remarkable performance in the HER as evidenced by its small Tafel slope of 57 mV dec^-1 and exceptional durability. The usage of plasma helps in replacing the top S atoms with Se atoms, and this ion bombardment also increases the roughness of the thin film, thus adding another factor to enhance the HER performance. This plasma-synthesized low-temperature metallic-phase heterostructure brings out a novel method for the discovery of other catalysts.