Boosting Hydrogen Evolution on MoS2/N-doped-C Nanotubes via Integrated Van der Waals Engineering and Morphology Engineering

In the realm of electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) is a material that holds great promise as a substitute for platinum (Pt), which is both expensive and scarce. The restricted number of active sites and low conductivity of MoS₂ have an impact on its catalytic efficiency, however, which hampers the application of MoS₂-based catalysts in practical catalytic hydrogen production. The integrated Van der Waals (vdW) engineering and morphology engineering hold the potential to effectively boost hydrogen evolution on MoS₂. Herein, hierarchical nanotubes (MoS₂/N-doped-C) assembled from MoS₂ nanosheets sandwiched by N-doped-C layers are synthesized utilizing an integration of hydrothermal and annealing. The 3D hierarchical structure with stepped edges, produced by directly integrating carbon layers into the MoS₂ interlayers, enhances the catalytic activity and stability of the HER compared to MoS₂ scattered on conductive carriers. The experimental results demonstrate that MoS₂/N-doped-C shows excellent electrocatalytic HER activity under acidic conditions, exhibiting an extremely small Tafel slope of 42 mV dec⁻¹, an extremely low overpotential of 41 mV at a geometric current density of 10 mA cm⁻², and maintaining durability for more than 100 h.