Carbon doped molybdenum disulfide nanosheets stabilized on graphene for the hydrogen evolution reaction with high electrocatalytic ability

Abstract

Fabricating a cost effective hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst without using precious metal elements is in crucial demand for environmentally-benign energy production. In this work, the thin and edge-rich molybdenum disulfide nanosheets, with carbon doped in the interlayers and decorated on graphene, were developed by a facile solvothermal process. The as-synthesized nanohybrids exhibited high catalytic ability for the hydrogen evolution electrochemical reaction with an onset overpotential of 0.165 mV and a Tafel slope of 46 mV dec(-1). Furthermore, the prepared nanohybrids also showed better durability and stability. Our work may lead to a potential method for in situ production of metal carbide-sulphur hybrid nanomaterials with promising applications for the hydrogen evolution reaction.

A Scalable Interfacial Engineering Strategy for a Finely Tunable, Homogeneous MoS2/rGO‐Based HER Catalytic Structure

“…Taking advantage of this, many attempts have been explored to tune the electronic structures of MoS 2 for improved catalytic performance, such as i) regulating the structures and morphologies of MoS 2 to expose more active sites; [ 8 ] ii) doping or dual doping MoS 2 with nonmetallic elements (C, N, P, Cl, H, etc.) to create additional active sites in the inert basal plane; [ 9 ] and iii) forming MoS 2 heterostructures with other materials, [ 10 ] such as metal atoms (Zn, Ni, Pt, Au, etc.) [ 11 ] or other highly conductive materials to improve the intrinsic activity of the edges.…”

Interlayer Nanoarchitectonics of Two‐Dimensional Transition‐Metal Dichalcogenides Nanosheets for Energy Storage and Conversion Applications

“…[90] Post annealing treatment can evaporate volatile species intercalated in the hydrothermal/ solvothermal MX 2 nanosheets and decrease the expanded interlayer spacing by restacking. [82,84,85,[91][92][93] …”

In situ growth of N-doped carbon coated CoNi alloy with graphene decoration for enhanced HER performance

“…The result demonstrates that rGO is an excellent platform for dispersion of active components, which can also provide outstanding electronic transfer property and conductivity. Thusly, the enhanced electronic conductivity, originating from the existence of rGO, is a key factor of the enhanced electronically catalytic HER performance [42,43] .…”