Hydrogen evolution enhancement of ultra-low loading, size-selected molybdenum sulfide nanoclusters by sulfur enrichment

Abstract

Size-selected molybdenum sulfide (MoSx) nanoclusters obtained by magnetron sputtering and gas condensation on glassy carbon substrates are typically sulfur-deficient (x = 1.6 ± 0.1), which limits their crystallinity and electrocatalytic properties. Here we demonstrate that a sulfur-enriching method, comprising sulfur evaporation and cluster annealing under vacuum conditions, significantly enhances their activity towards the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The S-richness (x = 4.9 ± 0.1) and extended crystalline order obtained in the sulfur-treated MoSx nanoclusters lead to consistent 200 mV shifts to lower HER onset potentials, along with two-fold and more-than 30-fold increases in turnover frequency and exchange current density values respectively. The high mass activities (~111 mA mg-1 @ 400 mV) obtained at ultra-low loadings (~100 ng cm-2, 5 % surface coverage) are comparable to the best reported MoS2 catalysts in the literature.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2018.04.068
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences
Additional Information: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Funding: EPSRC for support through funding for the Centre for Doctoral Training in Fuel Cells and their fuels (D.E.L., N.V.R., EP/G037116/1) and a fellowship grant (R.E.P., EP/L015749/1 and EP/K006061/2) and the European Commission for the Marie-Curie ITN project “Catsense” (Y.N.)
Uncontrolled Keywords: molybdenum disulfide,nanoclusters,sulfur-rich,hydrogen evolution,magnetron sputtering deposition
Publication ISSN: 1873-3883
Last Modified: 04 Mar 2024 08:26
Date Deposited: 30 Apr 2018 08:37
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Related URLs: https://www.sci ... 926337318303977 (Publisher URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2018-11-05
Published Online Date: 2018-04-27
Accepted Date: 2018-04-26
Authors: Escalera-lópez, Daniel
Niu, Yubiao
Park, Sung Jin
Isaacs, Mark
Wilson, Karen
Palmer, Richard E.
Rees, Neil V.

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License: Creative Commons Attribution

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