Amorphous Molybdenum Sulfide Catalysts for Electrochemical Hydrogen Production: Insights into the Origin of their Catalytic Activity
Abstract
We present a scalable wet chemical synthesis for a catalytically active nanostructured amorphous molybdenum sulfide material. The catalyst film is one of the most active nonprecious metal materials for electrochemical hydrogen evolution, drawing 10 mA/cm 2 at ∼200 mV overpotential. To identify the active phase of the material, we perform X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy after testing under a variety of conditions. As deposited, the catalyst resembles amorphous MoS 3, but domains resembling MoS 2 in composition and chemical state are created under reaction conditions and may contribute to this material’s high electrochemical activity. The activity scales with electrochemically active surface area, suggesting that the rough, nanostructured catalyst morphology also contributes substantially to the film’s high activity. Electrochemical stability tests indicate that the catalyst remains highly active throughout prolonged operation. The overpotential required to attain a current density of 10 mA/cm 2 increases by only 57 mV after 10 000 reductive potential cycles. Our enhanced understanding of this highly active amorphous molybdenum sulfide hydrogen evolution catalyst may facilitate the development of economical electrochemical hydrogen production systems.
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For the pristine MoSx AE electrode, the HER initiated at ~−0.11 V vs RHE, the overpotential to drive 10 mA/cm2 current density was 0.20 V, and the Tafel slope was 87 mV/dec.
“For the pristine MoSx AE electrode, the HER initiated at ~ −0.11 V vs RHE, and the overpotential to drive 10 mA/cm2 current density was 0.20 V. The Tafel slope of such catalyst was 87 mV/dec.”
From Synthesis of amorphous MoSx and MoSx/carbon nanotubes composite aerogels as effective hydrogen evolution reaction catalysts (2018) · cites this paper as [30]
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- Authors
- Benck, J. D., Chen, Z., Kuritzky, L. Y., Forman, A. J., & Jaramillo, T. F.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Jaramillo, Thomas F.
- Venue
- ACS Catalysis
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2012-08-10
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1916-1923
- ISSN
- 2155-5435 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2010924650
- Cited by
- 1,091
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 23 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 50 · 2023: 64 · 2022: 53 · 2021: 93 · 2020: 113 · 2019: 135 · 2018: 125 · 2017: 111 · 2016: 95 · 2015: 90 · 2014: 65 · 2013: 33 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 23.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- ACS Catalysis (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy (DESC0001060)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Metalloenzymes and iron-sulfur proteins
- Keywords
- amorphous molybdenum sulfide, electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution, non-noble metal catalysts, wet chemical synthesis, molybdenum trisulfide, catalyst morphology, electrochemically active surface area, electrochemical stability, overpotential, hydrogen production
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