Doping and Phase Engineering Enhanced Ru-Doped 1T-MoS2 Electrocatalyst for Industrial Hydrogen Evolution

Abstract

1T-MoS₂ possesses high conductivity and intrinsic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalytic activity with much lower price than Pt-based catalysts. However, 1T-MoS₂ is metastable, which complicates its synthesis. In this study, doping and phase engineering are used to grow 1T-MoS₂ nanosheets on carbon cloth (CC) by a hydrothermal method. Then, Ru is doped into the 1T-MoS₂ lattice by a secondary hydrothermal method to prepare the Ru/1T-MoS₂@CC electrocatalyst, as well as a self-supporting electrode. Under mild hydrothermal conditions, Ru doping can increase the electron density of states in the direction perpendicular to the basal plane of 1T-MoS₂, and thus enhances its HER activity and stability. The Ru/1T-MoS₂@CC catalyst exhibits an excellent full-pH electrocatalytic HER performance at large current densities: The HER overpotentials are 54 mV@10 mA cm⁻² and 282 mV@500 mA cm⁻² in 1 M KOH, and the HER overpotentials are 87 mV@10 mA cm⁻² and 308 mV@200 mA cm⁻² in 0.5 M H₂SO₄. In addition, the Ru/1T-MoS₂@CC catalyst exhibits long-term stabilities in both acidic and alkaline solutions. This study provides a new strategy for the design of efficient and economical HER electrocatalysts, and will promote the application of hydrogen energy conversions.