Amorphous MoS2 nanosheets grown on copper@nickel-phosphorous dendritic structures for hydrogen evolution reaction

In this study, we introduce highly active, efficient, and Pt-free electrodes (Cu@Ni-P@a-MoS2) fabricated on Ni foils, which have good conductivity and several a-MoS2 edge sites for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). A porous Cu dendritic structure on Ni foil was made by electro-plating utilizing hydrogen bubbles, and a Ni-P film that covered the dendritic structure was made by electro-less plating. Vertically grown a-MoS2 nanosheets were formed on the Cu@Ni-P dendritic structure by thermolysis. The structure has abundant active sites because of its particular structure, which was examined by SEM and TEM. XPS analysis was used to confirm that MoS2 was reduced completely, and the a-MoS2 nanosheet layer was characterized by Raman spectroscopy. Electrochemical experiments demonstrated that the electrode was highly effective for the HER with a low onset potential of 118.5 mV, and a current density of 10 and 100 mA/cm2 for 186 and 345 mV versus the reversible hydrogen electrode potential (vs RHE), respectively, a small Tafel slope of 60.5 mV/dec, and was stable after 2000 cycles. This study demonstrates that highly porous Cu@Ni-P@a-MoS2 electrodes, possessing a huge surface, are desirable for the HER and these findings will pave the way for a new form of highly efficient electrocatalysts.