Rational design of Ni-induced NC @Mo2C@MoS2 sphere electrocatalyst for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction in acidic and alkaline media

Abstract Exploiting efficient and low-cost electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) of water electrolysis remains a challenge. Herein, we designed an efficient electrocatalyst of Ni-induced nitrogen-doped carbon @ molybdenum carbide @ molybdenum disulfide sphere (NC@Mo2C@MoS2-(Ni)) by two simple coating steps following pyrolysis process. Benefiting from the regular spherical morphology, unique structure, synergistic effect between Mo2C and MoS2, inducement effect of elemental Ni that initial added and removed in final synthesis procedure, heteroatom N and P doping. The catalyst NC@Mo2C@MoS2-(Ni) exhibits relatively good catalytic performance of overpotentials of 205 and 216 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and Tafel slopes of 61.4 and 42.7 mV dec−1 in acidic and basic media, respectively. This work not only fabricate the electrocatalyst of NC@Mo2C@MoS2-(Ni) towards HER, but also provides a way to rationally design more efficient other functional electrocatalysts.