1T/2H MoS2/MoO3 hybrid assembles with glycine as highly efficient and stable electrocatalyst for water splitting

Abstract

Despite great efforts have been made during the past decade to improve the efficiency of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) onto the MoS2-based electrocatalysts via increasing the number of active sites, further improvements are crucial to avoid the detachment of 2D MoS2 nanosheets from the substrate during the long-term water splitting under intense HER. In this study, we report on the formation of highly efficient and surprisingly stable layer composed of 2D nanoplatelets from the hybrid-type MoS2 as a new prospective electrocatalyst for HER from acidic water solution. This layer was formed via one-pot hydrothermal synthesis in the solution containing ammonium heptamolybdate, thiourea and glycine (Gly). The products obtained were characterized by SEM, HRTEM, XRD, Raman, XPS, and potential cycling. Note that at the designed hybrid-type MoS2/MoO3-Gly nanoplatelets the HER rate can achieve a stable electrochemical performance for days with ~100 mA cm−2 current density at −0.35 V potential vs RHE.