Issue 11, 2022

Achieving ultra-dispersed 1T-Co-MoS2@HMCS via space-confined engineering for highly efficient hydrogen evolution in the universal pH range

Abstract

The rational design and synthesis of noble-metal-free electrocatalysts for water splitting is always important for the future hydrogen economy. Therefore, it is necessary to design an effective transition metal sulfide down to a molecular level. In this work, a multi-level spatial confinement strategy was developed to fabricate Co-promoted 1T-MoS2 (1T-Co-MoS2) by employing Evans–Showell-type polyoxometalates (POMs) [Co2Mo10O38H4] as molecular precursor. Highly dispersed 1T-Co-MoS2 nanoclusters with few layers (1–3 layers) and ultrasmall size (<5 nm) were synthesized within the hollow mesoporous carbon sphere (HMCS) by in situ vapor phase sulfurization. During the preparation, coordination bonds, organic cations and mesopores provide a triple-confinement environment to limit the growth of 1T-Co-MoS2 from the atomic level, molecular level to mesoscopic scale. The obtained 1T-Co-MoS2@HMCS exhibits remarkable electrocatalytic activity and excellent long-term durability for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), with overpotentials of 220 and 245 mV to achieve the current density of 200 mA cm−2 in 1 M KOH and 0.5 M H2SO4, respectively. The corresponding theoretical calculations indicate that Co–S edge sites are the most active sites of 1T-Co-MoS2 for HER, reflecting the major significance of Co doping. The superior HER performance could be attributed to the high intrinsic activity from Co-doped 1T-MoS2 sites, abundant exposed active sites from ultra-dispersed nanosheets, and enhanced charge and mass transfer within the HMCS substrate. This work provides a novel design concept via hierarchical multiple-level confinement for the synthesis of high-quality 1T-Co-MoS2 and achieves outstanding performance in electrocatalytic HER.

Graphical abstract: Achieving ultra-dispersed 1T-Co-MoS2@HMCS via space-confined engineering for highly efficient hydrogen evolution in the universal pH range

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Research Article
Submitted
04 feb. 2022
Accepted
11 apr. 2022
First published
12 apr. 2022

Inorg. Chem. Front., 2022,9, 2617-2627

Achieving ultra-dispersed 1T-Co-MoS2@HMCS via space-confined engineering for highly efficient hydrogen evolution in the universal pH range

C. Yue, Y. Zhou, Y. Liu, C. Feng, W. Bao, F. Sun, Y. Tuo, Y. Pan, Y. Liu and Y. Lu, Inorg. Chem. Front., 2022, 9, 2617 DOI: 10.1039/D2QI00269H

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