Ball-milling MoS2/carbon black hybrid material for catalyzing hydrogen evolution reaction in acidic medium

Abstract

Replacing platinum for catalyzing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acidic medium remains great challenges. Herein, we prepared few-layered MoS2 by ball milling as an efficient catalyst for HER in acidic medium. The activity of as-prepared MoS2 had a strong dependence on the ball milling time. Furthermore, Ketjen Black EC 300J was added into the ball-milled MoS2 followed by a second ball milling, and the resultant MoS2/carbon black hybrid material showed a much higher HER activity than MoS2 and carbon black alone. The enhanced activity of the MoS2/carbon black hybrid material was attributed to the increased abundance of catalytic edge sites of MoS2 and excellent electrical coupling to the underlying carbon network.