Designing hierarchical hollow nanostructures of Cu2MoS4 for improved hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

Layered Cu₂MoS₄, consisting of earth-abundant elements, is regarded as a potential catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, we demonstrate a Cu₂O-based template strategy to synthesise hierarchical hollow nanostructures of Cu₂MoS₄. The characterizations reveal that the electrochemically active surface of the hollow Cu₂MoS₄ is largely enhanced, in contrast to the nanosheet or nanoparticle structures. As the direct outcome, the designed hierarchical hollow structures display excellent HER activities with a low overvoltage and small Tafel slope. This study may provide new inspiration for the research of other ternary sulphide materials as well as subsequently accelerating their applications in the field of catalysis.