Abstract
The exploration of high-efficiency bifunctional electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) has long been challenging. The rational design of a catalyst by constructing heterostructures and a doping element are possibly expected to achieve it. Herein, the utilization of flower-like Fe/C-doped-MoS2/Ni3S2-450 spherical structural materials for electrocatalytic HER and OER is introduced in this study. The carboxyferrocene-incorporated molybdenum sulfide/nickel sulfide (MoySx/NiS) nanostructures were prepared by solvothermal method. After annealing, the iron and carbon elements derived from ferrocenecarboxylic acid enhanced the electrical transport performance and provided rich electronic sites for HER and OER in alkaline media. Specifically, the optimized flower-like Fe/C-doped-MoS2/Ni3S2-450 exhibited efficient bifunctional performance in alkaline electrolyte, with low overpotentials of 188 and 270 mV required to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm−2 for HER and OER, respectively. This work provides valuable insights for the rational design of energy storage and conversion materials by the incorporation of transition metal and carbon elements into metal sulfide structures utilizing metallocene.
Highlights
Environmental problems, such as air pollution and global warming caused by the overuse of fossil fuel, have long been concerning [1,2,3]
The electrochemical overall water splitting process is constituted by the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) on the cathode side and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on the anode side and requires catalysts of outstanding performance promoting the reaction process [5]
The α-Ni (OH)2 nanosheets were prepared on the basis of previous reports [26]
Summary
Environmental problems, such as air pollution and global warming caused by the overuse of fossil fuel, have long been concerning [1,2,3]. It is significant to design a low-cost bifunctional catalyst with excellent performance in both HER and OER process to achieve high efficiency overall water splitting. Methods using ferrocene and ferrocenecarboxylic acid to modify electrocatalysts have attracted considerable attention, such as Ziqian Xue et al [31], who prepared missing-linker metal-organic (MOF) frameworks through modifying Co-BDC with ferrocenecarboxylic acid (Fc), and achieved excellent OER performance with ultralow overpotential and current density of 241 mV at 100 mA cm−2 , respectively. We pioneered the use of ferrocenecarboxylic acid-derived iron-carbon doped metal sulfides to enhance the electrical transport performance and increase electronic site for catalytic reaction. This work provides valuable insights for the rational design of energy storage and conversion materials by incorporation of transition metal and carbon elements into metal sulfide structures utilizing metallocene
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