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Morphology‐Controlled Synthesis of Molybdenum Disulfide Wrapped Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
Author(s) -
Chen Lin,
Zeng Min,
Zhang Wenqing,
He Lin,
He Wenya,
Yang Fengchun,
Zhang Xin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemcatchem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.497
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1867-3899
pISSN - 1867-3880
DOI - 10.1002/cctc.201701403
Subject(s) - nanorod , molybdenum disulfide , tafel equation , materials science , overpotential , catalysis , carbon nanotube , chemical engineering , hydrothermal synthesis , molybdenum , nanotechnology , nanomaterials , molybdate , hydrothermal circulation , electrochemistry , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , electrode , engineering , metallurgy
Abstract The synthesis of new nanohybrid catalysts with a tunable structure and the exploration of their synergistic behaviors have captured substantial attention. In this work, amorphous molybdenum disulfide/single‐walled carbon nanotubes (MoS 2 /SWNTs) composites are synthesized by a facile hydrothermal process with the assistance of l ‐cysteine. We varied the mass ratio of sodium molybdate (the in situ Mo source) to SWNTs, this method provides a well‐defined pathway to enable the morphological control over the evolution of MoS 2 from nanospheres to nanofilaments, nanorods, and nanosheets. Among the as‐obtained samples, the MoS 2 /SWNTs (1:1) hybrids, which displayed a 3 D architecture that consisted of nanorods, exhibited the highest activity in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Compared with pure MoS 2 , the MoS 2 nanosheets that decorate the SWNTs have more highly exposed active edges, and the SWNTs in the center of the MoS 2 /SWNTs nanorods can enhance the conductivity. We regulated the ratio between MoS 2 and SWNTs to obtain a balance between the number of active sites and the conductivity of MoS 2 /SWNTs. Here, MoS 2 /SWNTs nanorods exhibited a low overpotential of 195 mV at 20 mA cm −2 and a low Tafel slope of 41 mV dec −1 for MoS 2 ‐based HER catalysts.