Synergistic interface engineering of transition metal-doped ReS2/Ti3C2 MXene hybrid for boosted electrocatalytic HER: Experimental and DFT insights

The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is being broadly explored and advanced due to its use as a favorable substitute for fossil fuels to harvest renewable energy. The advancement in HER is to introduce an efficient electro-catalyst apart from platinum-based benchmark catalyst, with lower commercial cost. Transition metal sulfides (TMS) have been a fascinating rising consideration as promising catalysts for the electrochemical conversion of energy. The alteration of the electronic configuration of TMS by means of the integration of metal heteroatoms, followed by the preparation of composites utilizing nanosheets of MXene noted for their elevated electrochemical surface area, results in a considerable augmentation of active catalytic sites and boost in the electrocatalytic performance of HER. A heterostructured noble metal free electrocatalyst, Mo-doped ReS 2 @Ti 3 C 2 MXene composite ( MRT ) was synthesized via a typical hydrothermal method. The electrocatalytic HER performance of 3-MRT composite demonstrates boosted results over non-doped ReS 2 @Ti 3 C 2 MXene composite as well as pristine ReS 2 and Ti 3 C 2 MXene, delivered a current density of 10 mA cm −2 at an overpotential of 66 mV for HER and shows excellent stability for 50 h. This study shows the importance of hetero-atom doping and exposes routes for non-noble metal-based electrocatalytic materials suitability for H 2 production. • Designing of novel Mo-doped ReS 2 @Ti 3 C 2 MXene ( 3-MRT) composite. • 3-MRT composite demonstrates more catalytic activity over non-doped and pristine materials. • 3-MRT demonstrates attractive acidic media hydrogen evolution performance. • HER activity of the 3-MRT composite was studied theoretically and experimentally.