title: Amorphous Molybdenum Sulfide/Carbon Nanotubes Hybrid Nanospheres Prepared by Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution.
abstract: Developing cost-effective electrocatalysts with high activity and stability for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) plays an important role in modern hydrogen economy. Amorphous molybdenum sulfide (MoSx) has recently emerged as one of the most promising alternatives to Pt-based catalysts in HER, especially in acidic electrolytes. Here this study reports a simple ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method to synthesize hybrid HER catalysts composed of MoSxfirmly attached on entangled carbon nanotube nanospheres (MoSx/CNTs). This synthetic process is fast, continuous, highly durable, and amenable to high-volume production with high yields and exceptional quality. The MoSx/CNTs hybrid catalyst prepared at 300 °C exhibits a low overpotential of 168 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm-2with a small Tafel slope of 36 mV dec-1. Electrochemical measurements and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses reveal that the CNT network not only promotes the charge transfer in corresponding HER process but also enhances the stability of the active sites in MoSx. This work demonstrates that ultrasonic spray pyrolysis is a reliable and versatile approach for synthesizing amorphous MoSx-based HER catalysts.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China.
authors.forename: Zhifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China.
authors.forename: Hengxing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China.
authors.forename: Hangxun
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1645-9003
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
keywords: amorphous molybdenum sulfides; carbon nanotubes; electrocatalysis; hydrogen evolution reaction; ultrasonic spray pyrolysis