Microflower-like Co9S8@MoS2 heterostructure as an efficient bifunctional catalyst for overall water splitting

Chaohai Pang; Xionghui Ma; Yuwei Wu; Shuhuai Li; Zhi Xu; Mingyue Wang; Xiaojing Zhu

doi:10.1039/D2RA04086G

Microflower-like Co₉S₈@MoS₂ heterostructure as an efficient bifunctional catalyst for overall water splitting†

Chaohai Pang,

‡*^ab Xionghui Ma,

‡^ab Yuwei Wu,^ab Shuhuai Li,

*^ab Zhi Xu,^ab Mingyue Wang^ab and Xiaojing Zhu*^c

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Analysis and Test Center, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Hainan Provincial Key Laboratory of Quality and Safety for Tropical Fruits and Vegetables, Key Laboratory of Quality and Safety Control for Subtropical Fruit and Vegetable, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Haikou, China
E-mail: 18389859589@163.com, happylishuhuai@163.com

^b Key Laboratory of Tropical Fruits and Vegetables Quality and Safety for State Market Regulation, Haikou, China

^c Research Center of Advanced Chemical Equipment, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Shantou 515041, China
E-mail: xiaoj_zhu@163.com

Abstract

The development of a distinguished and high-performance catalyst for H₂ and O₂ generation is a rational strategy for producing hydrogen fuel via electrochemical water splitting. Herein, a flower-like Co₉S₈@MoS₂ heterostructure with effective bifunctional activity was achieved using a one-pot approach via the hydrothermal treatment of metal-coordinated species followed by pyrolysis under an N₂ atmosphere. The heterostructures exhibited a 3D interconnected network with a large electrochemical active surface area and a junctional complex with hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalytic activity of MoS₂ and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalytic activity of Co₉S₈, exhibiting low overpotentials of 295 and 103 mV for OER and HER at 10 mA cm⁻² current density, respectively. Additionally, the catalyst-assembled electrolyser provided favourable catalytic activity and strong durability for overall water splitting in 1 M KOH electrolyte. The results of the study highlight the importance of structural engineering for the design and preparation of cost-effective and efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D2RA04086G
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 02 Jul 2022
Accepted: 05 Aug 2022
First published: 15 Aug 2022
This article is Open Access

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RSC Adv., 2022,12, 22931-22938

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Microflower-like Co₉S₈@MoS₂ heterostructure as an efficient bifunctional catalyst for overall water splitting

C. Pang, X. Ma, Y. Wu, S. Li, Z. Xu, M. Wang and X. Zhu, RSC Adv., 2022, 12, 22931 DOI: 10.1039/D2RA04086G

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