Efficient Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution from MoS2-Functionalized Mo2N Nanostructures

Kasinath Ojha; Soumen Saha; Shivali Banerjee; Ashok K Ganguli

doi:10.1021/acsami.6b10717

Efficient Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution from MoS₂-Functionalized Mo₂N Nanostructures

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2017 Jun 14;9(23):19455-19461. doi: 10.1021/acsami.6b10717. Epub 2017 Feb 28.

Authors

Kasinath Ojha¹, Soumen Saha¹, Shivali Banerjee¹, Ashok K Ganguli^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi , Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016, India.
² Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Mohali , Mohali, Phase-10, Sector-64, Punjab-160062, India.

PMID: 28244720
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b10717

Abstract

Molybdenum-based compounds and their composites were investigated as an alternative to Pt for hydrogen evolution reactions. The presence of interfaces and junctions between Mo₂N and MoS₂ grains in the composites were investigated to understand their role in electrochemical processes. Here we found that the electrocatalytic activity of Mo₂N nanostructures was enhanced remarkably by conjugation with few-layer MoS₂ sheets. The electrocatalytic performance of Mo₂N-MoS₂ composites in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was revealed from the high catalytic current density of ∼175 mA cm^-2 (at 400 mV) and good electrochemical stability (more than 18 h) in acidic media. Increasing the amount of MoS₂ in the composite, decreases the HER activity. The mechanism and kinetics of the HER process on the Mo₂N-MoS₂ surface were analyzed using Tafel slopes and charge transfer resistance.

Keywords: Mo2N; MoS2; electrocatalysis; hydrogen evolution reactions; nanocomposites.