Modulating the electronic structure of MoS2/NiS2 by functionalizing it over the N-doped reduced GO to improvise the catalytic hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Metal chalcogenides are an inexpensive and abundantly available candidate for catalytic applications. MoS2 is one among the promising material that has been widely accepted for efficiently facilitating hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) due to the existence of rich edge active sites. However, aggregation of nanoparticles limits their electrochemical activities. Thus, to enhance the catalytic behaviour, functionalization with NiS2 and rGO is established so that the number of active sites for H absorption will be increased. Further, the heteroatom doping on the pristine rGO alters the electronic structure and facilitate HER. Consequently, MoS2/NiS2 functionalized N-doped rGO as an electrocatalyst manifested superior activity in catalyzing hydrogen evolution. An overpotential of about 164 mV for a current density (10 mA cm−2) in an acidic medium has proven the potential of the novel candidate to be highly promising. The same catalyst also displayed good stability for a longer time period of HER activity with no degradation of the catalyst. These findings affirm that MoS2/NiS2@N- doped rGO electrocatalyst is a promising candidate for hydrogen production using water electrolyzer.