Band structure engineering of W replacement in ReSe2 nanosheets for enhancing hydrogen evolution

Layered transition metal dichalcogenide rhenium selenide (ReSe2) has attracted great attention as an electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) due to its excellent stability and sufficient active sites. However, ReSe2 has intrinsically poor conductivity, which leads to the insufficient utilization of electrocatalytic active sites. Herein, we designed the regulation of the electronic band structure by W replacement in ReSe2 nanosheets to greatly improve the conductivity. The Re0.7W0.3Se2 exhibits an overpotential of 141 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and a Tafel slope of 65.3 mV dec-1, superior to that of the original ReSe2 and WSe2. This work aims to provide a feasible strategy to promote the HER activity of ReSe2.