Subnanometer Molybdenum Sulfide on Carbon Nanotubes as a Highly Active and Stable Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces 2016-02, Vol.8 (5), p.3543-3550
• Main Authors: Li, Ping, Yang, Zhi, Shen, Juanxia, Nie, Huagui, Cai, Qiran, Li, Luhua, Ge, Mengzhan, Gu, Cancan, Chen, Xi’an, Yang, Keqin, Zhang, Lijie, Chen, Ying, Huang, Shaoming
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b08816

Electrochemically splitting water for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) has been viewed as a promising approach to produce renewable and clean hydrogen energy. However, searching for cheap and efficient HER electrocatalysts to replace the currently used Pt-based catalysts remains an urgent task. Herein, we develop a one-step carbon nanotube (CNT) assisted synthesis strategy with CNTs’ strong adsorbability to mediate the growth of subnanometer-sized MoS x on CNTs. The subnanometer MoS x -CNT hybrids achieve a low overpotential of 106 mV at 10 mA cm–2, a small Tafel slope of 37 mV per decade, and an unprecedentedly high turnover frequency value of 18.84 s–1 at η = 200 mV among all reported non-Pt catalysts in acidic conditions. The superior performance of the hybrid catalysts benefits from the presence of a higher number of active sites and the abundant exposure of unsaturated S atoms rooted in the subnanometer structure, demonstrating a new class of subnanometer-scale catalysts.