N+ irradiation regulates surface defects and doping towards efficient hydrogen evolution reaction on Sb2Te3

• High energy ions beam irradiation enables simultaneous doping and defect engineering. • N + irradiation is a controllable method for Sb 2 Te 3 defect engineering. • Nitrogen doping changes the electronic structure of adjacent active atoms. • The more hydrophilic N 2e16 -Sb 2 Te 3 surface also promotes HER performance. Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a vital process in the electrolysis of water, and it is closely related to the development of a new generation of energy. Here, we combine doping and defect engineering by irradiating Sb 2 Te 3 with a controllable nitrogen ion beam. The introduction of vacancy defects on 2D Sb 2 Te 3 achieves a higher density of active sites, while the introduction of N dopants into Sb 2 Te 3 observably improves the HER performance of Sb 2 Te 3 . HRTEM and EPR test results display that a lot of defects such as vacancies are produced after N + irradiation. XPS results indicate that N doping into Sb 2 Te 3 could affect the electronic structure of Sb 2 Te 3 . Moreover, the surface sputtering effect of the ion irradiation process partially exfoliates the surface oxide layer and increases the hydrophilicity of the material surface. The combined approach of doping and defect engineering decreases the charge transfer resistance, adds the electrochemically active surface area of catalysts, and increases the hydrophilicity of the surface, thus the catalysts show well HER activity. This work provides a strategy combining doping and defect engineering to improve the HER electrocatalytic ability of Sb 2 Te 3 nanosheets, which is expected to be extended to the modification of other electrocatalysts.