Molybdenum Sulfide/N-Doped CNT Forest Hybrid Catalysts for High-Performance Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

Cost effective hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst without using precious metallic elements is a crucial demand for environment-benign energy production. Molybdenum sulfide is one of the promising candidates for such purpose, particularly in acidic condition, but its catalytic performance is inherently limited by the sparse catalytic edge sites and poor electrical conductivity. We report synthesis and HER catalysis of hybrid catalysts composed of amorphous molybdenum sulfide (MoSx) layer directly bound at vertical N-doped carbon nanotube (NCNT) forest surface. Owing to the high wettability of N-doped graphitic surface and electrostatic attraction between thiomolybdate precursor anion and N-doped sites, ∼2 nm scale thick amorphous MoSx layers are specifically deposited at NCNT surface under low-temperature wet chemical process. The synergistic effect from the dense catalytic sites at amorphous MoSx surface and fluent charge transport along NCNT forest attains the excellent HER catalysis with onset overpotential as low as ∼75 mV and small potential of 110 mV for 10 mA/cm(2) current density, which is the highest HER activity of molybdenum sulfide-based catalyst ever reported thus far.

Two-dimensional layered MoS2: rational design, properties and electrochemical applications

“…Similarly, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were also utilized as the conductive support, and a MoS 2 /NCNT forest catalyst was fabricated via a low-temperature precursor decomposition method. 102 As depicted in Fig. 8D, the hybrid catalyst had a morphology consisting of an electro-conductive N-doped CNT forest densely coated with B2 nm scale amorphous MoS 2 catalysts.…”

One‐Dimensional Earth‐Abundant Nanomaterials for Water‐Splitting Electrocatalysts

“…Structural analysis revealed that this good activity was mainly attributed to the nitrogen dopants and concomitant structural defects. Similarly, amorphous molybdenum sulfide (MoS x ) layer (≈2 nm thick) was formed by decomposition of precursors onto N‐doped CNT forest surface 58. An onset potential of 75 mV and a small overpotential of 110 mV for a current density of 10 mA cm –2 were achieved, which represented the highest HER performance for MoS x ‐based materials at that time.…”

Two-Dimensional Material Molybdenum Disulfides as Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution

“…Finally, the anchored MoS 2 can also exert a positive effect on the reaction sites of CoSe 2 and enhance the catalytic activity. Besides the carbon-based substrates, a hybrid structure can also enhance the MoS2 HER performance [60][61][62][63][64]. Jaramillo's group designed vertically oriented core-shell MoO3/MoS2 heterostructure nanowires [60].…”