SECCM mapping of a van der Waals heterostructure for photoresponsive hydrogen evolution reaction

Heyun Du^2,1*, Chia-Ling Hsu²

¹Chemical Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei city, Taiwan
²Battery Research Center of Green Energy, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei city, Taiwan

* Presenter:Heyun Du, email:heyundu@mail.mcut.edu.tw

The excessive use of fossil fuels in human activities is causing global warming and climate change. To address this challenge, it becomes crucial to explore new renewable energy technologies, such as solar fuels, that utilize abundant and cost-effective resources. Here, our focus lies on two-dimensional (2D) materials, which are single-atom or single-molecule thick layered materials . These highly abundant materials have extraordinary and customizable properties, such as a tunable bandgap and a strong excitonic effect. Our study addresses high-quality van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures epitaxially grown on SiO₂ with varying numbers of WS₂ layers. We employed the high-temperature furnace chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method to control the growth process and achieve large-sized two-dimensional heterostructure materials. The conversion of solar energy into fuel on the surface of 2D materials is demonstrated in this work using scanning electrochemical cell microscopy.

Keywords: Scanning electrochemical cell microscopy, vdW heterostructures, Hydrogen evolution reaction