Boosting Hydrogen Evolution on MoS2/N-doped-C Nanotubes via Integrated Van der Waals Engineering and Morphology Engineering

Abstract

In the realm of electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is a material that holds great promise as a substitute for platinum (Pt), which is both expensive and scarce. The restricted number of active sites and low conductivity of MoS2 have an impact on its catalytic efficiency, however, which hampers the application of MoS2-based catalysts in practical catalytic hydrogen production. The integrated Van der Waals (vdW) engineering and morphology engineering hold the potential to effectively boost hydrogen evolution on MoS2. Herein, hierarchical nanotubes (MoS2/N-doped-C) assembled from MoS2 nanosheets sandwiched by N-doped-C layers are synthesized utilizing an integration of hydrothermal and annealing. The 3D hierarchical structure with stepped edges, produced by directly integrating carbon layers into the MoS2 interlayers, enhances the catalytic activity and stability of the HER compared to MoS2 scattered on conductive carriers. The experimental results demonstrate that MoS2/N-doped-C shows excellent electrocatalytic HER activity under acidic conditions, exhibiting an extremely small Tafel slope of 42 mV dec−1, an extremely low overpotential of 41 mV at a geometric current density of 10 mA cm−2, and maintaining durability for more than 100 h.