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Carbon encapsulated mixed-metal sulfide as proficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

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Abstract

Proficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) synthesized via a single-step, simple and low-temperature pyrolysis method. The mixed metal sulfide catalyst Co9S8/NiS@C shows irregular multi-shaped structure having small pores covered with carbon layers. The as-prepared Co9S8/NiS@C composites are made up of very small intermingled nanoparticles. The tiny nanoparticle contains large surface area that serves as an active-site for excellent HER performances. The Co9S8/NiS@C electrode is tested under alkaline solution performs overpotential (vs. RHE) of 0.28 V at current density of 10 mA cm−2. It exhibits a low Rct with an excellent and continuous stability for 10 h. The excellent HER performances of Co9S8/NiS@C are attributed to shape, size, and crystal structure of mixed metal sulfide and small surface pores that provide abundant active sites for electrocatalysis reaction.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51572111, 11774136, 51604049), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20161347), the Six Talent Peaks Project (TD-XCL-004), the 333 Talents project (BRA2017387), the Innovation/Entrepreneurship Program ([2015]26) and the Qing Lan Project ([2016]15) of Jiangsu Province.

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Author notes

  1. Shahid Hussain and Nabi Ullah contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, People’s Republic of China

    Shahid Hussain, Mingsong Wang, Guiwu Liu & Guanjun Qiao

  2. School of Metallurgical Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Maanshan, 243002, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Yingyi Zhang

  3. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, People’s Republic of China

    Nabi Ullah

  4. Department of Physics, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, 40100, Pakistan

    Nimra Aslam

  5. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, 40100, Pakistan

    Asma Shaheen

  6. Department of Physics, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, Lahore, 54000, Pakistan

    Muhammad Sufyan Javed

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  1. Shahid Hussain
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Correspondence to Shahid Hussain, Yingyi Zhang or Mingsong Wang.

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Hussain, S., Ullah, N., Zhang, Y. et al. Carbon encapsulated mixed-metal sulfide as proficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 30, 14762–14771 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-019-01848-2

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