Dissolution reconstruction of electron-transfer enhanced hierarchical NiS_x-MoO₂ nanosponges as a promising...

An industrial electro-catalyst obliges three essential features, such as scalability, generating high current density at low overpotential, and long-term stability. Herein, we tackle those challenges using NiS_x-MoO₂ nanosponges on carbon cloth based hydrogen evolution catalyst. The target catalyst was synthesized through a series of simple and scalable methods, including dissolution, reconstruction, and chemical vapor deposition. The optimized NiS_x-MoO₂/CC catalyst exhibits a superior hydrogen evolution catalytic activity far better than commercial Pt/C meanwhile surpasses widely used industrial Raney Ni catalyst by many aspects, namely lower overpotential at 500 mA cm^-2 current density and smaller Tafel plot in 30 wt% KOH solution. This excellent electrocatalytic activity is attributed to enhanced mass transfer and faster reaction kinetics due to the unique hierarchical porous structures, as well as the synergistic electron transfer effect between the two components of NiS_x and MoO₂ species. This work may provide a new strategy for the design of better hydrogen evolution catalyst for industrial application.