Dataset of "Cobalt and nickel doped WSe2 as efficient electrocatalysts for water splitting and as cathodes in hydrogen evolution reaction PEM water electrolysis"

Efficient electrocatalysts are crucial for water splitting and fuel cells. Using cheap alternatives that can improve reaction kinetics is essntial for advancing fuel cell technology. Although, tungsten diselinide (WSe2) is promising for electrocatalysis is not fully explored, especially in oxygen evolution and in applications such as polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzer.
In this work, we used a simple approach to dope WSe2 with cobalt and/or nickel atoms. The doped material was subsequently tested for hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reaction. Accordingly, the two electrocatalysts are highly active and stable, affording low overpotentials comparable to those of noble metals. The effective introduction of heteroatoms causes the retention of coordination vacancies, furnishing active catalytic sites that enhanced electrocatalytic performance both in activity and charge transfer. Moreover, both doped materials show excellent performance and stability as cathode electrocatalysts in the polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzer with great promise for real-world applications.