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Synthesis of amorphous MoSx and MoSx/carbon nanotubes composite aerogels as effective hydrogen evolution reaction catalysts

  • Original Paper: Sol–gel and hybrid materials for catalytic, photoelectrochemical, and sensor applications
  • Published:
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Abstract

This work reported the preparation of amorphous MoSx aerogel and MoSx/carbon nanotubes composite aerogels by a modified epoxide addition sol–gel method. In this process, propylene epoxide scavenged the protons from a S–H-contained organic acid (dl-Mercaptosuccinic acid) and promoted the interactions between (NH4)6Mo7O24•4H2O and the functional groups in the organic acid to form a gel. The sulfur and molybdenum contained a wet gel turned into an amorphous MoSx aerogel after supercritical drying in ethanol. Carbon nanotubes can be further incorporated into the aerogel backbone, which can extend the specific surface area and alter the pore structures in the composite aerogels. Such composite aerogels showed good catalytic performance in electrochemical hydrogen evolution reactions.

MoSx aerogels can be prepared by the modified epoxide-adding method and showed good catalytic activity toward HER.

Highlights

  • Epoxide addition method has been adopted to synthesize amorphous molybdenum sulfide aerogel.

  • High surface area (up to 265.5 m2/g) and the developed pore structure (pore volume up to 0.89 cm3/g) have been achieved.

  • Low overpotential and high activity toward hydrogen evolution have been observed.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Key Research and Development program (grant no. 2016YFB0901600) and NSCF (grant no. 21303162 and grant no. 11604295).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, 38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Qiuyue Gao, Yani Jin, Yiming Jin, Xiaoqing Wang, Zhanglian Hong & Mingjia Zhi

  2. Department of Applied Physics, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, China

    Ziran Ye

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Correspondence to Mingjia Zhi.

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I certify that this paper is original and has not been published and will not be submitted elsewhere for publication while being considered by Journal of Sol–Gel Science and Technology. And the study is not split up into several parts to increase the quantity of submissions and submitted to various journals or to one journal over time. No data have been fabricated or manipulated (including images) to support our conclusions. No data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were the authors’ own. The submission has been received explicitly from all co-authors. And authors whose names appear on the submission have contributed sufficiently to the scientific work and therefore share collective responsibility and accountability for the results.

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Gao, Q., Jin, Y., Jin, Y. et al. Synthesis of amorphous MoSx and MoSx/carbon nanotubes composite aerogels as effective hydrogen evolution reaction catalysts. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 88, 227–235 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-018-4793-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-018-4793-9

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