Effect of Polymer Addition on the Structure and Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Property of Nanoflower-Like Molybdenum Disulfide

Metals

Xianwen Zeng²  Lijing Niu²  Laizhou Song¹  Xiuli Wang²  Xuanming Shi²  Jiayun Yan²  Suresh Bhargava²  Mark Pownceby² 

[1]College of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China

关键词: nanoflower-like molybdenum disulfide;    hydrogen evolution reaction;    polymer intercalation;    electrochemical test;   

DOI  :  10.3390/met5041829

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Nano-structured molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) catalysts have been extensively developed for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, a novel hydrothermal intercalation approach is employed to fabricate nanoflower-like 2H–MoS₂ with the incorporation of three polymers, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and polyethylenimine (PEI). The as-prepared MoS₂ specimens were characterized by techniques of scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), together with Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The HER properties of these lamellar nanoflower-like composites were evaluated using electrochemical tests of linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The existent polymer enlarges the interlayer spacing of the lamellar MoS₂, and reduces its stacked thickness. The lamellar MoS₂ samples exhibit a promoting activity in HER at low additions of these three polymers (0.04 g/g MoS₂ for PVA and PEI, and 0.08 g/g MoS₂ for PVP). This can be attributed to the fact that the expanded interlayer of MoS₂ can offer abundant exposed active sites for HER. Conversely, high additions of the polymers exert an obvious interference in the HER activity of the lamellar MoS₂. Compared with the samples of MoS₂/PVP–0.08 and MoS₂/PEI–0.04, the MoS₂/PVA–0.04 composite exhibits excellent activity in HER, in terms of higher current density and lower onset potential.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.