Control of the morphologies of molybdenum disulfide for hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

In this study, different morphologies of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), including MoS2 nanoparticle (NP), MoS2 nanoflower (NF), MoS2 nanosphere (NS), MoS2 nanohollow (NH), and MoS2/MoO2 composite, are successfully synthesized via a facile-route hydrothermal process employing different solutions. The structure and chemical bonding of the different morphologies of MoS2 are investigated via X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Thereafter, the synthesized materials are applied to the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) employing a three-electrode system in a standard acidic medium (0.5 M H2SO4). The MoS2 NH exhibits higher performance: an overpotential of −230 mV at −10 mAcm−2, a Tafel slope of 64 mVdec−1, a high double-layer capacitance (Cdl) of 11.98 mFcm−2 and larger BET surface area (22.59 m2/g), as well as super stability after stability tests, representing the best catalytic behavior among the synthesized materials. The results indicate that the electrocatalytic efficiencies of materials depend on their morphologies which is highly related to the surface area of catalysts. The results avail a novel avenue for synthesizing the various morphologies of MoS2, as well as the new morphology of MoS2 (MoS2 NH). It can be a promising material for electrocatalytic and energy-storage applications.