Transferable Active Centers of Strongly Coupled MoS<sub>2</sub>@Sulfur and Molybdenum Co-doped g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> Heterostructure Electrocatalysts for Boosting Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Both Acidic and Alkaline Media
Beiyi Zhang, Junqi Li, Qianqian Song, Xiaotao Xu, Wenfei Hou, Hui Liu
Abstract
Designing an excellent acidic and alkaline general-purpose hydrogen evolution electrocatalyst plays an important role in promoting the development of the energy field. Here, a feasible strategy is reported to use the strongly coupled MoS 2 @sulfur and molybdenum co-doped g-C 3 N 4 (MoS 2 @Mo-S-C 3 N 4 ) heterostructure with transferable active centers for catalytic reactions in acidic and alkaline media. Research studies have shown that the unsaturated S site at the edge of MoS 2 and the active N atom on the Mo-S-C 3 N 4 substrate are, respectively, the active centers of acidic and alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction. Specifically, Mo-S-C 3 N 4 is regarded as a synergistic catalyst for the active species MoS 2 in acidic hydrogen evolution, while MoS 2 acts as a co-catalyst when the alkaline active species are transferred to Mo-S-C 3 N 4 . The coordination of the electrons between the interfaces achieves a synergistic balance, which provides the optimal sites for the adsorption of the reactants. Such an electrocatalyst exhibits overpotentials of 193 and 290 mV at 10 mA cm –2 in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 and 1 M KOH, respectively, which was better than numerous previous reports. This research provides an outstanding avenue to realize multifunctional electrocatalysts.