Constructing Heteroatom-Doped Transition-Metal Sulfide Heterostructures for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

Transition-metal sulfide (TMS) has been regarded as the most promising alternative to construct non-noble metal catalysts in the electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The excellent edge activation of MoS2 and abundant catalytic active sites of Ce2S3 can be utilized as the premise of constructing heterogeneous materials for electrochemical applications. Afterward, the heteroatoms (C, N, O, and Na) have been introduced to increase the original number of active sites (the number of the S–Mo–S on the edge molecular layer of MoS2 and exposed metal active center of Ce2S3). Additionally, the heterostructure of HAs@MoS2/Ce2S3 and ordered/amorphous carbon can enhance the activity by creating defects and localized disorder fields and accelerating the charge separation/transfer from cerium (Ce) sites to molybdenum (Mo) sites. Combining the above advantages, HAs@MoS2/Ce2S3 shows promising properties toward HER not only in acidic environments with a low overpotential (147.0 mV) but also in alkaline (160.5 mV) environments.