One-step hydrothermal synthesis of few-layered and edge-abundant MoS2/C nanocomposites with enhanced electrocatalytic performance for hydrogen evolution reaction

•MoS2/C composites have been prepared by a one-step hydrothermal method.•The MoS2 nanosheets in composites possess few-layered and edge-rich features.•The MoS2/C composites demonstrate enhanced electrocatalytic activity for HER.

MoS2/C nanocomposite has been successfully synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal method with citrate ammonium as carbon source. The obtained samples are well characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Raman spectroscopy, thermo gravimetric analyzer (TG) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Moreover, they are also evaluated as electrochemical catalysts in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The results indicate that numerous ultrathin MoS2 nanosheets which are characteristic of few layers (1–3 layers) and abundant exposed active edges and defects are well-dispersed in the amorphous carbon network to form MoS2/C composite. As a consequence, the desirable microstructures endow the resultant MoS2/C composite with significantly enhanced catalytic activity for HER such as more positive onset potential, larger current density as well as smaller Tafel slope of 64 mV dec−1 in comparison with the bare MoS2.

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