Microwave-assisted dispersant-induced uniform loading of 1T/2H phase MoS 2 onto CNTs for hydrogen evolution reaction

Uniform loading of MoS2 onto CNTs is expected to promote the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) efficiency, as the incorporation of CNTs can greatly improve the conductivity of the composites while increasing the exposure of active sites. However, it still lacks of facile and convenient method to achieve this goal. In this work, CNT@MoS2 composite with uniform core@shell structure is prepared by a dispersant-induced strategy. An adenine-derived dispersant (DSiA) containing reactive silanol groups (Si-OH) is used and plays a key role in the generation of CNT@MoS2. DSiA not only makes CNTs uniformly dispersed in water, but also functions as a bridge, providing coordinate sites for the in-situ growth of MoS2 on CNTs. Microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis route is adopted to generate 1T-MoS2 to promote the catalytic activity. Experimental result reveals that the 1T phase accounts for about 67% of total MoS2. The composite shows an overpotential of 236 mV for HER at the current density of 10 mA cm-2 (η10), with a Tafel slope of 80 mV dec-1 in 0.5 mol L-1 H2SO4. Carbon cloth that loaded with MoS2 and CNTs (CC/CNT/MoS2) is also prepared in the presence of DSiA while without any other binder, and the flexible electrode shows an η10 value of 219 mV. This work provides an innovative strategy for the fabrication of composite electrode for electrocatalytic applications.