Analyzing electrocatalytically accessible sites for hydrogen evolution reaction in rGO doped copper cobalt sulphide

Abstract

An important, yet difficult problem is the rational design and controlled production of an electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) using graphene-based bimetallic sulphide. Here, a novel electrocatalyst for HER was designed and created using a spherical-shaped structure grown on a graphene sheet with a conductive Cu-CoS2 support (rGO@CuCoS2). It takes advantage of the synergistic effect between the copper and cobalt sulphide phases, the naturally low resistance of the bimetal substrate, and the uniform spherical structure. With overpotentials of 84 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 in alkaline electrolytes, the self-supported rGO@CuCoS2 composite catalyst demonstrates outstanding electrocatalytic activity for HER in an alkaline pH range, respectively. The created rGO@CuCoS2 catalyst impressively exhibits steady electrocatalytic activity and high durability in HER processes. The electrocatalytically accessible sites were also discovered to be 15.02 x 1017 sites at a 5 mV s−1 scan rate. This novel mix of methods is intended to offer a workable plan for the advancement of human energy and is promising much beyond the realm of water electrolysis.