Controllable fabrication and structure evolution of hierarchical 1T-MoS2 nanospheres for efficient hydrogen evolution

The layered materials have demonstrated great prospects as cost-effective substitutes for precious electrocatalysts in hydrogen evolution reaction. Research efforts have been devoted to synthesizing highly conductive MoS 2 with the substantial cardinal plane and edge active sites. Here, we successfully synthesized a hierarchical 1T/2H–MoS 2 with sodium ion insertion via a facile hydrothermal method. The contents of the 1T-phase can be flexibly controlled by different hydrothermal temperatures (160 ∼ 200 °C). And the modified uniformly dispersed 1T/2H–MoS 2 nanospheres with different d spacings were designed to enhance the electrocatalytic efficiency by adding SiO 2 and through the ion exchange process of NaOH and HF solution. The as-synthesized Na + intercalated 1T-MoS 2 nanosphere with an expanded interlayer of 0.95 nm obtained at 160 °C exhibits a prominent electrocatalytic performance of hydrogen evolution reaction with a comparable overpotential of 255 mV and a remarkably small Tafel slope of 44 mV/decade. Therefore, this study provides a facile and controllable strategy to yield interlayer-expanded 1T-MoS 2 nanospheres, making it a potentially competitive hydrogen evolution catalyst for the hydrogen cell.