Synchronous Surface-Interface and Crystal-Phase Engineered Multifaceted Hybrid Nanostructure of Fe-(1T)-VSe₂ Nanosheet and Fe-CoSe₂ Nanorods Doped with P for Rapid HER and OER, Kinetics

Two different nanostructures of two dissimilar highly-potent active electrocatalysts, P-dopped metallic-(1T)-Fe-VSe2 (P,Fe-1T-VSe2) nanosheet and P-dopped Fe-CoSe2 (P,Fe-CoSe2) nanorods are hybridized and integrated into a single heterostructure (P,Fe-(VCo)Se-2) on Ni-foam for high-performance water splitting (WS). The catalytic efficiency of VSe2 nanosheets is first enhanced by enriching metallic (1T)-phase, then forming bimetallic Fe-V selenide, and finally by P-doping. Similarly, the catalytic efficiency of CoSe2 nanorods is boosted by first fabricating Fe-Co bimetallic selenide and then P-doping. To develop super-efficient electrocatalysts for WS, two individual electrocatalysts P,Fe-1T-VSe2 nanosheet and P,Fe-CoSe2 are hybridized and integrated to form a heterostructure (P,Fe-(VCo)Se-2). Metallic (1T)-phase of transition metal dichalcogenides has much higher conductivity than the 2H-phase, while bimetallization and P-doping activate basal planes, develop various active components, and form heterostructures that develop a synergistic interfacial effect, all of which, significantly boost the catalytic efficacy of the P,Fe-(VCo)Se-2. P,Fe-(VCo)Se-2 shows excellent performance requiring very low overpotential (eta(HER) = 50 mV@10 mAcm(-2) and eta(OER) = 230 mV@20 mAcm(-2)). P,Fe-(VCo)Se-2 (+, -) device requires a cell potential of 1.48 V to reach 10 mA cm(-2) for overall WS.