Three-dimensional Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Supported Molybdenum Disulfide Nanoparticles as an Advanced Catalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

• DOI: 10.1038/srep17542
• Publication Date: 2015-12-07T09:59:40Z
• Authors: Haifeng Dong; Conghui Liu; Haitao Ye; Linping Hu; Bunshi Fugetsu; Wenhao Dai; Yu Cao; Xueqiang Qi; Huiting Lu; Xueji Zhang
• Keywords: Molybdenum disulfide

Abstract An efficient three-dimensional (3D) hybrid material of nitrogen-doped graphene sheets (N-RGO) supporting molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) nanoparticles with high-performance electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is fabricated by using a facile hydrothermal route. Comprehensive microscopic and spectroscopic characterizations confirm the resulting possesses 3D crumpled few-layered network structure decorated MoS nanoparticles. Electrochemical characterization analysis reveals that exhibits toward HER under acidic conditions low onset potential 112 mV small Tafel slope 44 per decade. The enhanced mechanism has been investigated in detail controlling elemental composition, electrical conductance surface morphology as well Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. This demonstrates abundance exposed active sulfur edge sites nitrogen functional moieties N-RGO are synergistically responsible catalytic activity, whilst distinguished coherent interface /N-RGO facilitates electron transfer during electrocatalysis. Our study gives insights into physical/chemical performance hybrids illustrates how to design construct maximize efficiency.