Self-Templating Construction of Hollow Amorphous CoMoS₄ Nanotube Array towards Efficient Hydrogen Evolution...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Catalysis

Background:

• Efficient electrochemical hydrogen production requires earth-abundant catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at neutral pH.
• Current catalysts often lack the required activity and long-term stability under these conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel, earth-abundant catalyst for efficient and durable HER at neutral pH.
• To investigate the self-templating synthesis of hollow amorphous cobalt molybdenum sulfide nanotube arrays (CoMoS₄ NTA/CC).

Main Methods:

• Hydrothermal treatment of cobalt oxyfluoride (Co(OH)F) nanowire arrays on carbon cloth (CC) in ammonium molybdate sulfide ((NH₄ )₂ MoS₄) solution.
• Electrochemical characterization of the synthesized CoMoS₄ NTA/CC as a 3D electrode for HER in phosphate buffer solution (pH=7).
• Density functional theory (DFT) calculations to understand the hydrogen adsorption mechanism.

Main Results:

• The synthesized CoMoS₄ NTA/CC demonstrated superior catalytic activity for HER.
• Achieved low onset overpotential (21 mV) and required low overpotentials (104 mV and 179 mV) for current densities of 10 and 50 mA cm^-2.
• Exhibited strong long-term electrochemical durability in neutral pH conditions.

Conclusions:

• The self-templating method successfully produced hollow amorphous CoMoS₄ nanotubes on CC, acting as an efficient 3D electrode.
• CoMoS₄ NTA/CC is a promising earth-abundant catalyst for sustainable electrochemical hydrogen production.
• DFT calculations confirmed favorable hydrogen adsorption on CoMoS₄, explaining its enhanced catalytic performance.