Crystalline/Amorphous Heterophase with Self-Assembled Hollow Structure for Highly Efficient Electrochemical Hydrogen Production

Heterophase nanomaterials composed of multiple phases have attracted increasing attention due to their enhanced performance in electrocatalytic field. Nevertheless, constructing two-dimensional (2D) crystalline/amorphous heterophase nanostructures with the same chemical composition remains a great challenge. Herein, we report the preparation of a 2D crystalline/amorphous heterophase of MoS₂ nanosheets with the same elemental components via a facile solvothermal method. The obtained MoS₂ heterophase nanosheets can self-assemble into hollow structures with high morphological yield, referred to as c/a-hollow MoS₂. Furthermore, the as-prepared c/a-hollow MoS₂ can serve as templates to grow uniform Pt nanoparticles with a low mass loading of 5%, forming c/a-hollow MoS₂-Pt nanocomposites. Impressively, when used as electrocatalysts, c/a-hollow MoS₂ and c/a-hollow MoS₂-Pt nanocomposites exhibit excellent electrochemical performance toward hydrogen production with low onset potentials of −112 and −26 mV and Tafel slopes as small as 45 and 34 mV/dec, respectively, which are among the best reported hydrogen evolution reaction electrocatalysts.