Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Property of Molybdenum Disulfide/Nickel Phosphide Hybrids in Alkaline Solution

The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) property of molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) is undesirable because of the insufficient active edge sites and the poor conductivity.To enhance HER performance of MoS 2 , nickel phosphide (Ni 2 P) was combined with this catalyst and three MoS 2 /Ni 2 P hybrids (38 wt % Ni 2 P addition for MoS 2 /Ni 2 P-38, 50 wt % Ni 2 P addition for MoS 2 /Ni 2 P-50, and 58 wt % Ni 2 P addition for MoS 2 /Ni 2 P-58) were fabricated via a hydrothermal synthesis process.Morphologies, crystallinities, chemical components, specific surface areas, and HER properties of the fabricated MoS 2 /Ni 2 P samples in an alkaline electrolyte were characterized and tested.In addition, the insight into the HER properties of as-prepared catalysts were revealed by the density functional theory (DFT) calculation.Additionally, the stabilities of pure MoS 2 , Ni 2 P, and MoS 2 /Ni 2 P-50 samples were evaluated.The results show that the addition of Ni 2 P can enhance the HER property of the MoS 2 catalyst.Although HER properties of the above-mentioned three MoS 2 /Ni 2 P hybrids are inferior to that of pure Ni 2 P, they are much higher than that of MoS 2 .Among as-prepared three hybrids, MoS 2 /Ni 2 P-50 exhibits the best HER performance, which may be due to its uniform morphology, large specific surface area, and excellent stability.The MoS 2 /Ni 2 P-50 hybrid shows a high cathodic current density (70 mA/cm 2 at -0.48 V), small Tafel slope (~58 mV/decade), and a low charge transfer resistance (0.83 kΩ•cm 2 ).