Nitrogen-doped cobalt sulfide as an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline and acidic media

Abstract

The enhancement in intrinsic catalytic activity and material conductivity of an electrocatalyst can leads to promoting HER activity. Herein, a successful nitrogenation of CoS2 (N–CoS2) catalyst has been investigated through the facile hydrothermal process followed by N2 annealing treatment. An optimized N–CoS2 catalyst reveals an outstanding hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance in alkaline as well as acidic electrolyte media, exhibiting an infinitesimal overpotential of −0.137 and −0.097 V at a current density of −10 mA/cm2 (−0.309 and −0.275 V at −300 mA/cm2), corresponding respectively, with a modest Tafel slope of 117 and 101 mV/dec. Moreover, a static voltage response was observed at low and high current rates (−10 to −100 mA/cm2) along with an excellent endurance up to 50 h even at −100 mA/cm2. The excellent catalytic HER performance is ascribed to improved electronic conductivity and enhanced electrochemically active sites, which is aroused from the synergy and mutual interaction between heteroatoms that might have varied the surface chemistry of an active catalyst.