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Unsaturated-sulfur-rich MoS2 nanosheets decorated on free-standing SWNT film: Synthesis, characterization and electrocatalytic application

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Abstract

Herein, we report a bottom-up solvothermal route to synthesize a flexible, highly efficient MoS2@SWNT electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reactions (HER). Characterization revealed that branch-like MoS2 nanosheets containing sulfurrich sites were in situ uniformly dispersed on free-standing single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) film, which could expose more unsaturated sulfur atoms, allowing excellent electrical contact with active sites. The flexible catalyst exhibited excellent HER performance with a low overpotential (~150 mV at 10 mA/cm2) and small Tafel slope (41 mV/dec). To further explain the improved performance, the local electronic structure was investigated by X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) analysis, proving the presence of unsaturated sulfur atoms and strong electronic coupling between MoS2 and SWNT. This study provides an in-situ synthetic route to create new multifunctional flexible hybridized catalysts and useful insights into the relationships among the catalyst microstructure, electronic structure, and properties.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, CAS Hefei Science Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230029, China

    Daobin Liu, Weiyu Xu, Qin Liu, Qun He, Yasir A. Haleem, Changda Wang, Ting Xiang, Chongwen Zou, Wangsheng Chu & Li Song

  2. Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials Laboratory (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China

    Jun Zhong & Zhiqiang Niu

  3. Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China

    Li Song

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  1. Daobin Liu
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Correspondence to Li Song.

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Liu, D., Xu, W., Liu, Q. et al. Unsaturated-sulfur-rich MoS2 nanosheets decorated on free-standing SWNT film: Synthesis, characterization and electrocatalytic application. Nano Res. 9, 2079–2087 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1098-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1098-6

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