Issue 12, 2017

Bis(aminothiolato)nickel nanosheet as a redox switch for conductivity and an electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

A π-conjugated coordination nanosheet comprising bis(aminothiolato)nickel (NiAT) moieties was synthesized by the reaction of Ni(acac)2 with 1,3,5-triaminobenzene-2,4,6-trithiol at liquid–liquid and gas–liquid interfaces. The sheet thickness could be controlled down to a single layer (0.6 nm). Selected area electron diffraction and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction analyses indicated the formation of a flat crystalline sheet with a kagome lattice stacked in a staggered alignment. NiAT was reversibly interconverted to a bis(iminothiolato)nickel (NiIT) nanosheet by the chemical 2H+–2e reaction, which was accompanied by a drastic change in electrical conductivity from 3 × 10−6 to 1 × 10−1 S cm−1. This change in conductivity was explained by the difference in band structures between NiAT and NiIT. NiAT acted as an efficient electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction, showing strong acid durability and an onset overpotential of −0.15 V.

Graphical abstract: Bis(aminothiolato)nickel nanosheet as a redox switch for conductivity and an electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
16 Jun 2017
Accepted
02 Oct 2017
First published
03 Oct 2017
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2017,8, 8078-8085

Bis(aminothiolato)nickel nanosheet as a redox switch for conductivity and an electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction

X. Sun, K. Wu, R. Sakamoto, T. Kusamoto, H. Maeda, X. Ni, W. Jiang, F. Liu, S. Sasaki, H. Masunaga and H. Nishihara, Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 8078 DOI: 10.1039/C7SC02688A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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