Construction of highly dispersed active sites in MoS2/CuS/C electrocatalyst based on organic–inorganic hybrid nanoflower for efficient hydrogen generation

Abstract

In the face of current energy and environment issues, it is of significance to develop efficient and durable electrocatalysts to produce future renewable and clean energy. In this work, a three-dimensional (3D) MoS2/CuS/C electrocatalyst featuring MoS2 nanoparticles grown in-situ on carbon-doped CuS/C derived from organic-inorganic (laccase-Cu3(PO4)2) hybrid substrate is designed and prepared for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Attribute to the hybrid substrate assisted highly dispersed active sites and abundant defects in heterointerfaces, the optimized MoS2/CuS/C electrocatalyst presents excellent HER electrocatalytic performance with a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at low overpotential of 111 mV and small Tafel slope of 40.4 mV dec-1. Meanwhile, the MoS2/CuS/C catalyst also shows the good cycling performance and structural stability even in the successive HER experiment for 45 h. This work proposes a novel synthesis strategy for the preparation of high-efficiency electrocatalyst toward HER using organic–inorganic hybrid material as substrate, which would be implemented for the synthesis of other composite catalysts in the field of energy conversion.