Metallic 1T-MoS2 nanosheets in-situ entrenched on N,P,S-codoped hierarchical carbon microflower as an efficient and robust electro-catalyst for hydrogen evolution

Phosphorus contained metallic 1T-MoS2 produced from in-situ ammonium intercalation induced surface sulfur atom distortion of MoS2 rooted in N,P,S-codoped hierarchical flowerlike carbon (HCMF) hybrids were successfully prepared via a dopamine self-polymerization together with molybdate process followed by a hydrothermal reduction route. On account of the coupling effect of metallic phase, defect-rich character, heteroatomic dopants and highly conductive carbon support, the P-MoS2@HCMF demonstrates prominent performances with an overpotential of merely 86 mV to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm–2 and a small Tafel slope of 42.35 mV dec–1 for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in 0.5 M H2SO4, which are among the best results for molybdenum disulfide based HER catalysts. Strikingly, benefiting from S vacancies and P dopant functioning as electron donors, as well as strain arisen from the tensile of rigid carbon microflower scaffold to MoS2 nanosheets to overcome agglomeration barriers of nanosheets, P-MoS2@HCMF remained well the pristine 1 T phase and exhibited superior cycling stability with indistinguishable overpotential decay over 5000 sweeps and extraordinary HER durability during the 100 h long-term operation with negligible current deterioration. These findings highlight the prospective potential of P-MoS2@HCMF as a highly efficient and stable noble metal-free electrocatalyst towards HER.