Defect Engineering of Sb₂Te₃ through Different Doses of Ion Irradiation to Boost Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Performance

Two-dimensional transition-metal chalcogenides (TMCs) have great potential as high-efficiency hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts to replace the traditional noble-metal catalysts. Although many strategies have been developed to improve the efficiency of the HER of TMCs, how to accurately and appropriately regulate the catalyst to increase the catalytic activity remains a challenge. Here, this work reports a strategy for regulating the defects of Sb2Te3 by ion irradiation technology to improve the activity of HER and studies the effect of irradiation dose on material properties in detail. Electrochemical tests show that compared with the original Sb2Te3, the HER performance of Sb2Te3 irradiated with Fe10+ is significantly improved in an acidic solution. Through the analysis of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images, it is found that various defects appear on the surface of Sb2Te3 after irradiation with iron ions. The generation of defects not only increases the active sites but also improves the conductivity of the material. It is worth noting that the Fe10+ irradiation changes the surface hydrophilicity of the Sb2Te3 material and accelerates the desorption of hydrogen bubbles, which can expose the active sites in time and reduce the damage to the material caused by the desorption of large bubbles. This strategy of regulating the surface defects of materials by changing the irradiation dose provides an idea for the performance control of electrocatalysts.