3D arrays of molybdenum sulphide nanosheets on Mo meshes: Efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction

Molybdenum sulphide has emerged as a promising electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Toward further improving its activity, tremendous efforts have been made to preferentially expose active edge sites of molybdenum sulphide-based catalysts by engineering their surface structure. In this work, 3D arrays of molybdenum sulphide nanosheets were synthesized by hydrothermal treatment of Mo mesh in aqueous thiourea solution. Their compositional, morphological and structural properties as well as electrocatalytic activities were investigated in details. The results reveal that 3D arrays of molybdenum sulphide nanosheets demonstrate an enhanced HER activity with a low onset overpotential of 120 mV and a Tafel slope of 46 mV/dec, which is superior to that of 2D arrays molybdenum sulphide nanosheets grown on Mo foil. The high activity for HER can be ascribed to the superstructure of the catalysts with a large fraction of edge sites and a high surface area. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.