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Magnetron Sputter-Coated Nanoparticle MoS2 Supported on Nanocarbon: A Highly Efficient Electrocatalyst toward the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
Rowley-Neale, Samuel J. Ratova, Marina Fugita, Lucas Smith, Graham C. Gaffar, Amer Kulczyk-Malecka, Justyna Kelly, Peter J. Banks, Craig E.
Rowley-Neale, Samuel J.
Ratova, Marina
Fugita, Lucas
Smith, Graham C.
Gaffar, Amer
Kulczyk-Malecka, Justyna
Kelly, Peter J.
Banks, Craig E.
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2018-07-03
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Abstract
The design and fabrication of inexpensive highly efficient electrocatalysts for the production of hydrogen via the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) underpin a plethora of emerging clean energy technologies. Herein, we report the fabrication of highly efficient electrocatalysts for the HER based on magnetron-sputtered MoS2 onto a nanocarbon support, termed MoS2/C. Magnetron sputtering time is explored as a function of its physiochemical composition and HER performance; increased sputtering times give rise to materials with differing compositions, i.e., Mo4+ to Mo6+ and associated S anions (sulfide, elemental, and sulfate), and improved HER outputs. An optimized sputtering time of 45 min was used to fabricate the MoS2/C material. This gave rise to an optimal HER performance with regard to its HER onset potential, achievable current, and Tafel value, which were −0.44 (vs saturated calomel electrode (SCE)), −1.45 mV s−1, and 43 mV dec−1, respectively, which has the highest composition of Mo4+ and sulfide (MoS2). Electrochemical testing toward the HER via drop casting MoS2/C upon screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) to electrically wire the nanomaterial is found to be mass coverage dependent, where the current density increases up to a critical mass (ca. 50 μg cm−2), after which a plateau is observed. To allow for a translation of the bespoke fabricated MoS2/C from laboratory to new industrial applications, MoS2/C was incorporated into the bulk ink utilized in the fabrication of SPEs (denoted as MoS2/C-SPE), thus allowing for improved electrical wiring to the MoS2/C and resulting in the production of scalable and reproducible electrocatalytic platforms. The MoS2/C-SPEs displayed far greater HER catalysis with a 450 mV reduction in the HER onset potential and a 1.70 mA cm−2 increase in the achievable current density (recorded at −0.75 V (vs SCE)), compared to a bare/unmodified graphitic SPE. The approach of using magnetron sputtering to modify carbon with MoS2 facilitates the production of mass-producible, stable, and effective electrode materials for possible use in electrolyzers, which are cost competitive to Pt and mitigate the need to use time-consuming and low-yield exfoliation techniques typically used to fabricate pristine MoS2.
Citation
Rowley-Neale, S. J., Ratova, M., Fugita, L. T. N., Smith, G. C., Gaffar, A., Kulczyk-Malecka, Kelly, J., P. J. & Banks, C. E. (2018). Magnetron sputter coated nanoparticle MoS2 supported upon nanocarbon: A highly efficient electrocatalyst towards the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction, ACS Omega 3(7), 7235-7242.
Publisher
American Chemical Society
Journal
ACS Omega
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Article
Language
en
Description
This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in ACS Omega, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsomega.8b00258
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ISSN
2470-1343