Amorphous Molybdenum Sulfide/Carbon Nanotubes Hybrid Nanospheres Prepared by Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Zhifeng Ye; Jia Yang; Bo Li; Lei Shi; Hengxing Ji; Li Song; Hangxun Xu

doi:10.1002/smll.201700111

Amorphous Molybdenum Sulfide/Carbon Nanotubes Hybrid Nanospheres Prepared by Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Small. 2017 Jun;13(21). doi: 10.1002/smll.201700111. Epub 2017 Apr 11.

Authors

Zhifeng Ye¹, Jia Yang¹, Bo Li¹, Lei Shi², Hengxing Ji³, Li Song⁴, Hangxun Xu¹

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China.
² Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China.
³ CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China.
⁴ National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China.

PMID: 28398009
DOI: 10.1002/smll.201700111

Abstract

Developing cost-effective electrocatalysts with high activity and stability for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) plays an important role in modern hydrogen economy. Amorphous molybdenum sulfide (MoS_x ) has recently emerged as one of the most promising alternatives to Pt-based catalysts in HER, especially in acidic electrolytes. Here this study reports a simple ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method to synthesize hybrid HER catalysts composed of MoS_x firmly attached on entangled carbon nanotube nanospheres (MoS_x /CNTs). This synthetic process is fast, continuous, highly durable, and amenable to high-volume production with high yields and exceptional quality. The MoS_x /CNTs hybrid catalyst prepared at 300 °C exhibits a low overpotential of 168 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm^-2 with a small Tafel slope of 36 mV dec^-1 . Electrochemical measurements and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses reveal that the CNT network not only promotes the charge transfer in corresponding HER process but also enhances the stability of the active sites in MoS_x . This work demonstrates that ultrasonic spray pyrolysis is a reliable and versatile approach for synthesizing amorphous MoS_x -based HER catalysts.

Keywords: amorphous molybdenum sulfides; carbon nanotubes; electrocatalysis; hydrogen evolution reaction; ultrasonic spray pyrolysis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't