Amorphous-MoO/MoS heterostructure: oxidizing amorphization of S-vacancy MoS for enhanced alkaline hydrogen evolution

• Published in: Chemical communications (Cambridge, England) England), 2020-11, Vol.56 (93), p.1471-1474
• Main Authors: Wu, Wenzhuo, Niu, Chunyao, Tian, Qingyong, Liu, Wei, Niu, Guowei, Zheng, Xiaoli, Li, Chong, Jia, Yu, Wei, Cong, Xu, Qun
• Format: Article
• ISSN: 1359-7345; 1364-548X
• DOI: 10.1039/d0cc05888b

Cost-effective and durable electrocatalysts for the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are urgently required. The slow HER kinetics suppressed by water dissociation hinder the application of catalysts in alkaline media. Herein, we constructed an amorphous heterostructure that combined amorphous-MoO 3− x (A-MoO 3− x ) and MoS 2 by in situ oxidizing amorphization of S-vacancy MoS 2 . The optimal A-MoO 3− x /MoS 2 catalyst exhibited a competitive HER overpotential of −146 mV at η = −10 mA cm −2 . DFT calculations indicate that A-MoO 3− x can reduce the energy barriers of water dissociation and H 2 formation, and the heterointerfaces can facilitate charge transfer. Amorphous-MoO 3− x /MoS 2 heterostructure prepared by in situ oxidizing amorphization of S-vacancy MoS 2 enables the acceleration of water dissociation and alkaline hydrogen evolution.