Three-dimensional self-supporting micro-nanostructured MoS2/CoS2/CC heterojunction derived from ZIF-67 for high efficiency electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution in both acid and alkali electrolytes

In this paper, a novel three-dimensional (3D) MoS2/CoS2 micro-nano heterostructured electrocatalyst has been successfully derived from ZIF-67 on carbon cloth (CC) by a simple method of low temperature vulcanization. The metal-organic framework (MOFs) of ZIF-67 on CC was obtained at room temperature and used as both the precursor of Co and structure template to construct the 3D self-supporting spindle CoS2 nanodiscs on CC. Large amounts of 2D MoS2 nanosheets were subsequently grown on the surface of spindle-shaped CoS2 nanodiscs to form 3D self-supporting MoS2/CoS2/CC heterostructural electrocatalyst. This 3D self-supporting heterostructural electrocatalyst showed good hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance in both acid and alkali electrolytes. At 10 mA/cm2, the HER overpotentials of the MoS2/CoS2/CC heterostructural electrocatalyst in the alkali and acid electrolyte were 147 mV and 119 mV, and their corresponding Tafel slopes were 90.5 mV dec−1 and 111.4 mV dec−1, respectively, indicating that this MoS2/CoS2/CC heterostructural electrocatalyst had a good application prospect in the electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen. Moreover, this work provides a new idea for low-cost, scale fabrication of 3D self-supporting heterostructured transition metal sulfide catalysts.