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Ultrasonication‐assisted liquid exfoliation of layered materials is widely used to produce a large number of 2D nanosheets due to its simplicity, universality, and mass production. Here, the utility of ultrasonication is extended from liquid exfoliation to seed screening in the case of layered GeSe and GeS. It is found that the ultrasonic stripping force can also be used to selectively remove the lying seeds interacting with substrate through weak van der Waals (vdW) forces while retaining the standing seeds connected with substrate via tightly covalent bonds. The standing seeds then induce the growth of 2D crystal‐structural films with standing orientation. This thereby enables efficient carrier transport within covalently bonded layers, instead of poor transport between layers held together by vdW forces. The resulting standing‐oriented GeSe films exhibit a 21‐times increase in carrier mobility compared to lying‐oriented films. As a result, this study demonstrates the highest power conversion efficiencies of 6.1% and 10.5% under AM1.5G 1‐ and 0.01‐sun illumination reported for GeSe solar cells, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alkaline water electrolyzers (AWEs) and anion‐exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) have received increasing attention for their natural compatibility with earth‐abundant materials and are regarded as the cutting‐edge of hydrogen energy techniques and the research focuses. However, the commercialization of these devices remains in the sluggish hydrogen electrode reactions due to the requirement of cooperative adsorption of both hydrogen species and hydroxyl species. The research on synergistic alkaline hydrogen oxidation/evolution reaction (HOR/HER) electrocatalysts is still in its infancy. This review summarizes the recent progress and strategies in constructing synergistic active sites for advancing alkaline HOR/HER electrocatalysts. The fundamentals of alkaline HOR/HER are first introduced with both theoretical and experimental verifications to rationalizing the necessity of constructing synergistic active sites. Then, this review systemically dissects the functionality of different active sites in recently reported innovative HOR/HER catalysts and introduces the synergistic effects. Finally, some perspectives on the challenges and opportunities for the future design and synthesis of the synergistic HOR and HER electrocatalysts are proposed, intending to promote the application of hydrogen‐based energy conversion systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The development of cost‐effective and applicable strategies for producing efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts is crucial to advance electrochemical water splitting. Herein, a kinetically controlled room‐temperature coprecipitation is developed as a general strategy to produce a variety of sandwich‐type metal hydroxide/graphene composites. Specifically, well‐defined α‐phase nickel cobalt hydroxide nanosheets are vertically assembled on the entire graphene surface (NiCo‐HS@G) to provide plenty of accessible active sites and enable facile gas escaping. The tight contact between NiCo‐HS and graphene promises effective electron transfer and remarkable durability. It is discovered that Ni doping adjusts the nanosheet morphology to augment active sites and effectively modulates the electronic structure of Co center to favor the adsorption of oxygen species. Consequently, NiCo‐HS@G exhibits superior electrocatalytic activity and durability for OER with a very low overpotential of 259 mV at 10 mA cm−2. Furthermore, a practical water electrolyzer demonstrates a small cell voltage of 1.51 V to stably achieve the current density of 10 mA cm−2, and 1.68 V to 50 mA cm−2. Such superior electrocatalytic performance indicates that this facile and manageable strategy with low energy consumption may open up opportunities for the cost‐effective mass production of various metal hydroxides/graphene nanocomposites with desirable morphology and competing performance for diverse applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Practical electrochemical water splitting requires cost‐effective electrodes capable of steadily working at high output, leading to the challenges for efficient and stable electrodes for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, by simply using conductive FeS microsheet arrays vertically pre‐grown on iron foam (FeS/IF) as both substrate and source to in situ form vertically aligned NiFe(OH)x nanosheets arrays, a hierarchical electrode with a nano/micro sheet‐on‐sheet structure (NiFe(OH)x/FeS/IF) can be readily achieved to meet the requirements. Such hierarchical electrode architecture with a superhydrophilic surface also allows for prompt gas release even at high output. As a result, NiFe(OH)x/FeS/IF exhibits superior OER activity with an overpotential of 245 mV at 50 mA cm−2 and can steadily output 1000 mA cm−2 at a low overpotential of 332 mV. The water‐alkali electrolyzer using NiFe(OH)x/FeS/IF as the anode can deliver 10 mA cm−2 at 1.50 V and steadily operate at 300 mA cm−2 with a small cell voltage for 70 h. Furthermore, a solar‐driven electrolyzer using the developed electrode demonstrates an exceptionally high solar‐to‐hydrogen efficiency of 18.6%. Such performance together with low‐cost Fe‐based materials and facile mass production suggest the present strategy may open up opportunities for rationally designing hierarchical electrocatalysts for practical water splitting or diverse applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polarization‐sensitive photodetection in the UV region is highly indispensable in many military and civilian applications. UV‐polarized photodetection usually relies on the use of wide bandgap semiconductors with 1D nanostructures requiring complicated nanofabrication processes. Although the emerging anisotropic 2D semiconductors shed light on the detection of polarization with a simple device architecture, bandgaps of such reported 2D semiconductors are too small to be applied for visible–blind UV‐polarized photodetection. Here, germanium disulfide (GeS2), the widest bandgap (>3 eV) in the family of in‐plane anisotropic 2D semiconductors explored to date, is introduced as an ideal candidate for UV‐polarized photodetection. The structural, vibrational, and optical anisotropies of GeS2 are systematically investigated from theory to experiment. GeS2‐based photodetectors show a strong polarization‐dependent photoresponse in the UV region. GeS2 with a wide bandgap and high in‐plane anisotropy not only enriches the family of anisotropic 2D semiconductors but also expands the polarized photodetection from the current visible and near‐infrared to the brand‐new UV region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polarization‐sensitive photodetection in the UV region is highly indispensable in many military and civilian applications. UV‐polarized photodetection usually relies on the use of wide bandgap semiconductors with 1D nanostructures requiring complicated nanofabrication processes. Although the emerging anisotropic 2D semiconductors shed light on the detection of polarization with a simple device architecture, bandgaps of such reported 2D semiconductors are too small to be applied for visible–blind UV‐polarized photodetection. Here, germanium disulfide (GeS2), the widest bandgap (>3 eV) in the family of in‐plane anisotropic 2D semiconductors explored to date, is introduced as an ideal candidate for UV‐polarized photodetection. The structural, vibrational, and optical anisotropies of GeS2 are systematically investigated from theory to experiment. GeS2‐based photodetectors show a strong polarization‐dependent photoresponse in the UV region. GeS2 with a wide bandgap and high in‐plane anisotropy not only enriches the family of anisotropic 2D semiconductors but also expands the polarized photodetection from the current visible and near‐infrared to the brand‐new UV region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]