Metal sulfide electrocatalyst is developed as a cost-effective and promising candidate for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this work, we report a novel Mo-doped Cu2S self-supported electrocatalyst grown in situ on three-dimensional copper foam via a facile sulfurization treatment method. Interestingly, Mo-Cu2S nanosheet structure increases the electrochemically active area, and the large fleecy multilayer flower structure assembled by small nanosheet facilitates the flow of electrolyte in and out. More broadly, the introduction of Mo can adjust the electronic structure, significantly increase the volmer step rate, and accelerate the reaction kinetics. As compared to the pure Cu2S self-supported electrocatalyst, the Mo-Cu2S/CF show much better alkaline HER performance with lower overpotential (18 mV at 10 mA cm−2, 322 mV at 100 mA cm−2) and long-term durability. Our work constructs a novel copper based in-situ metal sulfide electrocatalysts and provides a new idea to adjust the morphology and electronic structure by doping for promoting HER performance.
The development of cost-effective and highly efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts is an essential component of renewable clean energy technologies, such as fuel cells and metal/air cells, but remains a huge and long-term challenge. Here, novel heterogeneous Cu/CuO nanoparticles embedded within N-doped carbon nanosheets (Cu/CuO@NC-900) are successfully synthesized by combining a facile hydrothermal route with a solid calcination technique. Benefitting from the electronic interaction between Cu and CuO, the generated abundant highly active Cu-Nx active sites and the high conductivity of the N-doped carbon nanosheets, the resulting Cu/CuO@NC-900 material shows superior ORR performance in alkaline media, exhibiting a high half-wave potential of ~0.868 V, and a robust stability and methanol tolerance, even outperforming commercial 20 wt% Pt/C. Our study opens up a new avenue for the rational design and fabrication of efficient and durable noble-metal-free Cu-based electrocatalysts for energy conversion and storage.
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