Construction of an Amethyst-like MoS[sub.2]@Ni[sub.9]S[sub.8]/Co[sub.3]S[sub.4] Rod Electrocatalyst for Overall Water Splitting

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 13; no. 16
• Main Authors: Pei, Zhen, Qin, Tengteng, Tian, Rui, Ou, Yangxin, Guo, Xingzhong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 01.08.2023
• Subjects: Analysis; Catalysts; Chemical synthesis; Electric properties; Mechanical properties; Methods; Molybdenum disulfide; Nanoparticles; Nickel compounds; Sulfides; China
• DOI: 10.3390/nano13162302
• ISSN: 2079-4991

Transition metal sulphide electrocatalytic materials possess the bright overall water-splitting performance of practical electrocatalytic technologies. In this study, an amethyst-like MoS[sub.2] @Ni[sub.9] S[sub.8] /Co[sub.3] S[sub.4] rod electrocatalyst was constructed via a one-step hydrothermal method with in-situ-grown ZIF-67 nanoparticles on nickel foam (NF) as a precursor. The rational design and synthesis of MoS[sub.2] @Ni[sub.9] S[sub.8] /Co[sub.3] S[sub.4] endow the catalyst with neat nanorods morphology and high conductivity. The MoS[sub.2] @Ni[sub.9] S[sub.8] /Co[sub.3] S[sub.4] /NF with the amethyst-like rod structure exposes abundant active sites and displays fast electron-transfer capability. The resultant MoS[sub.2] @Ni[sub.9] S[sub.8] /Co[sub.3] S[sub.4] /NF exhibits outstanding hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalytic activities, with low overpotentials of 81.24 mV (HER) at 10 mA cm[sup.−2] and 159.67 mV (OER) at 50 mA cm[sup.−2] in 1.0 M KOH solution. The full-cell voltage of overall water splitting only achieves 1.45 V at 10 mA cm[sup.−2] . The successful preparation of the amethyst-like MoS[sub.2] @Ni[sub.9] S[sub.8] /Co[sub.3] S[sub.4] rod electrocatalyst provides a reliable reference for obtaining efficient electrocatalysts for overall water splitting.