Molybdenum Disulfide Nanoflakes Covered Carbonized Catkin Microtube Hybrids as Superior Catalysts for Electrochemical Hydrogen Evolution

The synergistic effect of non-noble-metal, low-cost, and high-performance hybrid electrocatalysts was often used for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, the molybdenum disulfide nanoflakes were in situ grown on carbon microtube derived from natural tubular willow catkins as templates to construct the three-dimensional catkins/MoS₂ hybrids. Catkins/MoS₂ hybrids exhibited excellent HER activity in acidic conditions with a remarkable small onset overpotential of 50 mV, a Tafel slope of 62 mV decade^–1, a comparatively small overpotential of 136 mV at 10 mA cm^–2, and a Faraday yield of ∼100%. The as-synthesized catalysts also presented impressive durability and long-term stability. The superior electrocatalytic activity of catkins/MoS₂ hybrids resulted from the unique hybrid structure of the catkins microtube and MoS₂ nanoflakes providing abundant catalytically active sites and the annealed-catkins providing the good conductive support. The hybrids may find potential in practical hydrogen generation