Simultaneous phase control and carbon intercalation of MoS for electrochemical hydrogen evolution catalysis

Molybdenum sulfide is considered to be an alternative material to commercial platinum catalysts for the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). 1T-MoS 2 has higher hydrophilicity and electronic conductivity than 2H-MoS 2 and is more favorable for the HER. However, 1T-MoS 2 is not stable and easily transformed into a more stable 2H phase during the synthesis process. Therefore, it is crucial to find a suitable method to synthesize highly active MoS 2 HER electrocatalysts. In this work, a carbon intercalated 1T-MoS 2 electrocatalyst (MoS 2 -2C) is synthesized via a glucose-assisted hydrothermal approach. The introduction of glucose in the synthesis not only induces the formation of active 1T-MoS 2 but also modifies the electronic structure of the in-plane sites of 1T-MoS 2 . The electronic status of MoS 2 -2C is studied in detail. Our results show that the free energy of HER at the optimal adsorption site of MoS 2 -2C is as low as 0.10 eV. Therefore, it shows promising HER catalytic activity ( η = 217 mV@10 mA cm −2 ) and stability in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 . Carbon intercalated 1T-MoS 2 (MoS 2 -2C) for efficiently electrocatalytic H 2 evolution is synthesized via a glucose-assisted approach, which not only stablizes the active 1T-MoS 2 but also modifies the electronic structure of the in-plane sites.