Iron-doped VSe2 nanosheets for enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction

Alloying is critical for regulating the electron states of layered two-dimensional (2D) materials, which has a significant influence on the physical and chemical properties of 2D materials, such as electrochemical catalysis, magnetism, and the bandgap of semiconductors. Here, we report the alloy of Fe-doped VSe2 with good homogeneity at the atomic level by using a one-step synthesis method. Fe-doped VSe2 presents enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance. It is found that Fe-doped VSe2 shows improved catalytic activity compared to the virgin VSe2, including a lower overpotential and a smaller Tafel slope. The enhanced HER performance indicates a lower Gibbs free energy of the HER process, resulting from the doping-induced regulation of the electron states. Our work presents a facile method to prepare transition metal-doped 2D materials and offers a general way to regulate the catalytic properties of 2D materials for energy conversion applications.