article · ACS Applied Energy Materials
Researchers evaluated how different two-dimensional support materials affect the catalytic performance of cobalt disulfide nanoparticles for alkaline water splitting. The nanoparticles were synthesised onto sheets of reduced graphene oxide, graphitic carbon nitride, boron carbon nitride, molybdenum disulfide, and tungsten disulfide using a hydrothermal technique. When tested in an alkaline solution, all supported nanohybrids outperformed unsupported cobalt disulfide for both water oxidation and water reduction. Hybrids supported on molybdenum disulfide and tungsten disulfide achieved the highest performance. Specifically, the cobalt disulfide on tungsten disulfide material acted as a stable bifunctional catalyst, delivering a current density of 10 milliamperes per square centimetre at a cell voltage of 1.6 volts across 96 hours of operation. Computational calculations supported these experimental results, confirming superior surface stability and catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution.
Producing clean hydrogen fuel through water electrolysis requires durable catalysts that operate with minimal energy loss. By showing how two-dimensional materials enhance the performance of non-precious cobalt disulfide, this study provides insights into designing more efficient, long-lasting catalytic materials for green hydrogen generation without relying exclusively on expensive noble metals.
This research targets catalyst design for alkaline water electrolysers, relevant to clean hydrogen equipment manufacturers and energy utilities. The technology is at an early experimental stage, having demonstrated small-scale laboratory synthesis, short-term continuous stability over 96 hours, and theoretical modelling. Substantial further testing, scale-up of catalyst production, and evaluation in commercial cell configurations would be required before practical industrial deployment.
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Efficient electrochemical splitting of water with exceptional durability can be a solution for growing global demand for energy. Herein, we systematically investigated the influence of the supporting two-dimensional (2D) substrate (rGO, g-C3N4, BCN, MoS2, and WS2) on the electrocatalytic performance of CoS2 nanoparticles (NPs) for overall water splitting. CoS2NPs decorated onto rGO, g-C3N4, BCN, MoS2, and WS2 sheets were synthesized by adopting a facile hydrothermal technique using cobalt salt and sulfur source as precursors. Compared to unsupported CoS2, the synthesized nanohybrids supported on 2D materials, namely, CoS2/rGO, CoS2/g-C3N4, CoS2/BCN, CoS2/MoS2, and CoS2/WS2 exhibited significantly higher water oxidation and reduction and overall water splitting efficiencies in 1.0 M KOH aqueous solution, with CoS2/MoS2 and CoS2/WS2 catalysts being the most effective ones. In the case of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), CoS2/WS2 performed as the best catalyst and was able to provide a current density of 10 mA cm–2 at an overpotential of 130 mV, whereas it only required 298 mV to generate the same current density for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The bifunctional nanohybrid CoS2/WS2 catalyst achieved a current density of 10 mA cm–2 over 96 h for the alkaline overall water splitting at a cell voltage of 1.6 V. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were also performed to further describe and determine the HER catalytic performance of the studied catalysts. Comparing the absolute values of the studied catalysts’ Gibbs free energy of adsorbed hydrogen intermediate, H*, (|ΔGH*|), revealed that both CoS2/MoS2 and CoS2/WS2 hybrid catalysts exhibited the best surface stability and the highest HER catalytic performance.
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DOI: 10.1021/acsaem.0c02509
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