Open-ended W ₁₈O ₄₉-filled tungsten dichalcogenide nanotubes grown on a W substrate to efficiently catalyze hydrogen evolution†

Abstract

A scalable infrared-heating CVD method was developed to grow few-walled WSe ₂ or WS ₂ nanotube arrays in situ filled with highly conductive single-crystal W ₁₈O ₄₉, and a simple pressure control led to their universally uncapped top-ends. Open-ended WS ₂ nanotubes grown on the W substrate performed excellently as an electrocatalyst to facilitate the HER in acid, contributing to high-density active edge sites and good electronic coupling between the substrate and nanotubes.

Abstract

Aligned W ₁₈O ₄₉-filled few-walled WSe ₂ or WS ₂ nanotubes were directly grown on W substrates via a scalable infrared-heating CVD method. Uncapping greatly improved the catalytic efficiency of WS ₂ nanotubes for the HER in acid, due to the high-density exposed 2H-WS ₂ edge sites of open-ended nanotubes.