N-doped WS2 nanosheets: a high-performance electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Non-Pt-based catalysts are urgently required to produce abundant hydrogen in electrochemical water splitting, in order to make the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) feasible and energy efficient. Here, N-doped WS2 nanosheets were synthesized by a one step sol–gel process, which are electrochemically active toward the HER with a low onset potential of 86 mV, a large cathodic current density (100 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of 197 mV) and long-term durability. We anticipate that this synthetic method will be a powerful tool for creating high-performance electrocatalysts from other transition metal dichalcogenides.