Micrometer-Scale biomass carbon tube matrix auxiliary MoS2 heterojunction for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Electrocatalytic materials for hydrogen evolution reaction are crucial in water splitting. Developing low-cost and highly active catalyst remains an enormous challenge. Herein, we reported a simple approach to synthesize a molybdenum disulfide/micrometer-scale biomass carbon tube matrix (BCTM) which is derived from available and accessible plant wild celery. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanosheet could be well dispersed on the BCTM to form porous structure, while the BCTM can enhance the conductivity of MoS2 nano sheet. The synergistic effects between the MoS2 nanosheet and BCTM contribute to high hydrogen evolution reaction activity. MoS2/BCTM shows admirable catalytic ability with a low overpotential of 176 mV at 10 mA cm(-2), a small Tafel slope 51 mV.dec(-1), and outstanding stability over 2000 cycles under acidic conditions. This novel strategy provides a low-cost route to synthesize excellent MoS2-based catalyst, which may widely apply in the fields of electrocatalysis and photocatalysis. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.