Unraveling the synergistic mechanism of N-CNT/Co@MoS2 heterostructure for pH-universal hydrogen evolution reaction

초록

Despite being a new class of low-cost base-metal catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), Mo-based compounds, such as MoS2, still exhibit relatively low catalytic activity. To improve the low activity of MoS2, considerable attention has been paid to defect engineering, nanostructure management, and doping with precious and non-precious metals. However, further studies are still required to enhance the catalytic activity of MoS2 for practical electrochemical applications. In this study, to enhance the activity of MoS2 by constructing the heterostructure between N-doped CNTs (N-CNTs) and MoS2, pristine MoS2 was synthesized to prepare electrodes for electrochemical hydrogen generation that showed exceptional performance in both acidic and basic environments. N-CNTs containing Co were also grown directly on carbon cloths to greatly increase the electrode surface area. By designing this N-CNTs and MoS2 heterostructure, the produced hydrogen adsorption energy of the catalysts was considerably lower than that of pure MoS2. Thus, in both acidic and alkaline environments, the electrode demonstrated a low overpotential (eta 10) value of 75 and 127 mV, respectively, demonstrating outstanding HER performance. Moreover, the prepared system not only improves the performance of MoS2 but also holds great promise for enhancing the activity of various noble- and non-noble-metal-based electrochemical hydrogen evolution catalysts. A new avenue for creating high-performance electrochemical electrodes for water splitting is made possible by this discovery.

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