Defect engineering has been widely applied to improve the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance of MoS2. In this work, a co-doped electrocatalyst on carbon fiber paper (CFP) for HER was prepared by coupling with simple hydrothermal and gas-phase phosphorylation process to improve the durability of the catalyst while enhancing the electrocatalytic performance (Fe-P-MoS2/CFP). The results showed that the overpotential at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 (η10) of Fe-P-MoS2/CFP was only 130 mV, which was much lower than those of other undoped and single-metal atom doping electrocatalysts. Electronic interactions between Fe, P and MoS2 reduced the local electron densities and changed the electronic structure of Mo and S, leading to the generation of additional p orbitals in the S site, thus optimizing the adsorption–desorption energy of hydrogen in the S site. In addition, compared to Fe-MoS2/CFP, Fe-P-MoS2/CFP showed better electrocatalytic durability in acidic conditions. The co-doping technique proposed within this study stands to offer a novel approach for amplifying the catalytic activity and stability of electrocatalysts.
Read full abstract