Article

Cite This: Inorg. Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX pubs.acs.org/IC

In Situ Generation of Bifunctional Fe-Doped MoS2 Nanocanopies for

Efficient Electrocatalytic Water Splitting
Jiang-Yan Xue,†,‡ Fei-Long Li,† Zhong-Yin Zhao,† Cong Li,† Chun-Yan Ni,† Hong-Wei Gu,*,†
David James Young,§ and Jian-Ping Lang*,†,‡
†
Suzhou Key Laboratory of Precise Transformation of Resource Molecules, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and
Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China
‡
State Key Laboratory of Organometallic Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Shanghai 200032, People’s Republic of China
§
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College of Engineering, Information Technology and Environment, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT 0909, Australia
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*
S Supporting Information

ABSTRACT: Design and synthesis of non-noble metal electrocatalysts with

high activity and durability for the electrolysis of water is of great significance
for energy conversion and storage. In this work, we prepared a series of Fe-
doped MoS2 nanomaterials by simple one-pot solvothermal reactions of
(NH4)2MoS4 with FeCl3·6H2O. An optimized working electrode of Fe-MoS2-
5 displayed high hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity with a relatively
small overpotential of 173 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2 in
0.5 M H2SO4, along with no significant change in catalytic performance even
after 1000 cyclic voltammetry (CV) cycles. Fe-MoS2 nanoparticles on nickel
foam (NF; denoted as Fe-MoS2/NF) exhibited an overpotential of 230 mV at
20 mA cm−2 for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and 153 mV at 10 mA
cm−2 for the HER in 1.0 M KOH electrolyte. Fe-MoS2/NF was stable for
more than 140 h under these conditions. Furthermore, the two electrode
system of Fe-MoS2/NF (anode)//Fe-MoS2/NF (cathode) electrodes demonstrated excellent electrocatalytic activity toward
overall water splitting with a low potential of 1.52 V at 10 mA cm−2 in 1.0 M KOH electrolyte.

1. INTRODUCTION benefits of controllable disorder engineering and simultaneous

Excessive consumption of fossil fuels has resulted in global
warming and environmental contamination.1−5 Considerable
advances have recently been made in the development of cost-
effective, renewable energy vectors such as hydrogen.6−9 The
electrolytic decomposition of water involves the hydrogen
evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction
(OER) and is an ideal method for the production of hydrogen
and oxygen if the strong oxygen−hydrogen bond can be broken
with an energy efficient catalytic system.2,10−14 The noble metal
derived Pt/C and Ir/C are commercially available electro-
catalysts for the HER and OER, respectively.15−19 However,
the high scarcity and prohibitive costs limit their application on
a large scale.20−23 Functional nanomaterials based on earth-rich
metal chalcogenides could potentially replace noble metal
electrocatalysts,24−28 and foremost among these cheaper
alternatives are MoS2-based electrodes.29,30 Bulk MoS2 crystals
are not active HER catalysts, but two-dimensional (2D) MoS2
is highly effective at facilitating this transformation.31,32 Many
methods have been proven useful to improve the catalytic
activity of MoS2, including constructing active site-rich
nanosheets, creating porous structures, doping with heter-
oatoms, and coupling conductive substrates.20,33−35 In 2013,
Xie et al. demonstrated both the structural and electronic
oxygen incorporation into MoS2, leading to dramatically
enhanced HER activity.36 Lu et al. developed a simple,
effective, and reproducible synthetic approach involving in
situ sulfuration of metallic Mo substrates to fabricate MoS2
porous thin films.37 The sulfur source was thiourea while the
Mo substrate functioned as both the Mo source and the
substrate/current collector in their system and the thickness of
the films could be adjusted from 400 nm to 1.3 mm by
controlling the reaction time. Metals including Ag, Co, Ni, Li,
Pd, Pt, and Mn have been reported to be successfully doped
into the MoS2 crystal structure.38−44 Although there have been
significant breakthroughs using molybdenum disulfide in acidic
media for the HER, few people have studied this electrocatalyst
in alkaline media. Zhao et al. reported a covalent doping
approach to achieve a MoS2 electrocatalyst for overall water
splitting.38 This material was made by using bacterial cellulose
to adsorb Mo and Co from (NH4)6Mo7O24 and Co(NO3)2
mixture solutions and then thermally treating the resulting
Co−Mo2C/BCCF (BCCF = bacterial cellulose carbon fibers)
under a N2 atmosphere before a vapor-phase hydrothermal
Received: June 18, 2019

© XXXX American Chemical Society A DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.9b01814

Inorg. Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Inorganic Chemistry
treatment to convert the Co−Mo2C/BCCF into Co-MoS2/
BCCF. This catalyst displayed good catalytic performance,
achieving a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at relatively low
HER and OER overpotentials of 48 mV and 260 mV,
respectively.
Iron is a nonprecious, earth-abundant element, and there are
relatively few reports of bifunctional Fe-doped MoS2 HER and
OER electrocatalysts. Sun et al. recently reported the
fabrication of an amorphous FeMoS4 nanorod array (NRA)
on carbon cloth (CC; FeMoS4 NRA/CC), prepared by
hydrothermal treatment of FeOOH NRA/CC in
(NH4)2MoS4 solution.45 This catalyst demonstrated good
catalytic activity toward the HER with an overpotential of 204
mV at 10 mA cm−2. Inspired by this result, we wondered
whether certain Fe-doped MoS2 species could be prepared by
the analogous reaction of (NH4)2MoS4 with iron salts directly.
To our delight, the solvothermal reaction of (NH4)2MoS4 with
different molar ratios of FeCl3·6H2O in N,N′-dimethylforma-
mide (DMF) gave rise to a set of Fe-doped MoS2 nano species
(Fe-MoS2). Among them, Fe-MoS2-5 possessed the highest
HER electrocatalytic performance in 0.5 M H2SO4. Likewise,
treatment of 0.05 mmol of (NH4)2MoS4 with an equivalent
amount of FeCl3·6H2O in the presence of nickel foam (NF) in
DMF yielded amorphous Fe-MoS2 nanoparticles (NPs) on NF
(Fe-MoS2/NF), which exhibited excellent electrocatalytic
activity toward both HER and/or OER in alkaline media.
2. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION
2.1. Materials and Methods. FeCl3·6H2O, (NH4)6Mo7O24·
4H2O, and DMF were purchased from Sinopharm Chemical Reagent
Co., Ltd. (NH4)2S and KOH were purchased from Shanghai Aladdin
Bio-Chem Technology Co., Ltd. Pt/C (20 wt % Pt on Vulcan XC-
72R) and Nafion (5 wt %) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich. All
chemicals were of analytical grade and used without further
purification. (NH4)2MoS4 was synthesized according to a literature
procedure.46 Figure S1 showed the observed and calculated PXRD
patterns of (NH4)2MoS4. Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) patterns
were obtained on an X’Pert-Pro MPD diffractometer (Netherlands
PANalytical) with a Cu Kα X-ray source (λ = 1.540598 Å). Scanning
electron microscopy (SEM) images and energy dispersive X-ray
spectra (EDS) were obtained with a HITACHI S-4700 cold field
emission scanning electron microscope operating at 15 kV. The
morphologies of the products were also determined by scanning
transmission electron microscopy (STEM, FEI Tecnai F20). The
contents of Fe were measured by inductively coupled plasma atomic
emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) using a Varian 710-ES instrument
(USA). All samples were prepared by dropping an ethanol suspension
of uniformly dispersed nanocrystals onto carbon-coated copper grids.
X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) were collected on an SSI S-Probe
XPS Spectrometer.
2.2. Preparation of Fe-MoS2. In a typical synthesis of Fe-MoS2-1,
0.01 mmol of FeCl3·6H2O and 0.05 mmol of (NH4)2MoS4 were
dissolved in 12 mL of DMF, and the resulting solution was transferred
to a 25 mL Teflon-lined stainless autoclave. After heating at 200 °C for
12 h, it was cooled to room temperature, and the resulting black solid
was washed three times with 2 mL of deionized water and absolute
ethyl alcohol (v/v = 1:1) and then dried in vacuo.
A similar workup was employed for the preparation of Fe-MoS2-2,
Fe-MoS2-3, Fe-MoS2-4, and Fe-MoS2-5 by using different molar
amounts of FeCl3·6H2O (0.02 mmol, 0.03 mmol, 0.04 and 0.05
mmol).
2.3. Preparation of Fe-doped MoS2/NF. FeCl3·6H2O (13.5 mg)
and (NH4)2MoS4 (13 mg) were dissolved in 12 mL of DMF, and the
mixture, together with pretreated Ni foam (2 cm × 2 cm), was
transferred to a 25 mL Teflon-lined stainless-steel autoclave and
maintained at 200 °C for 12 h. After cooling to ambient temperature,
B DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.9b01814
Article
the resulting Fe-doped MoS2/NF was washed three times with 2 mL
of deionized water and absolute ethyl alcohol (v/v = 1:1).
2.4. Electrochemical Measurements. Electrochemical measure-
ments were performed on a CHI 660E electrochemical analyzer
(Chenhua, Shanghai) with a conventional three electrode arrange-
ment consisting of Fe-MoS2 on a glassy carbon (GC) disk (5 mm in
diameter) as the working electrode, platinum foil as the counter
electrode, and Ag/AgCl as the reference electrode. The Fe-MoS2/NF
working electrode (1.0 cm × 0.5 cm) was submerged in an electrolyte
to a depth of 0.5 cm2. Polarization curves were obtained using linear
sweep voltammetry (LSV) with a scan rate of 5 mV s−1 in 0.5 M
H2SO4 and 2 mV s−1 in O2-saturated 1 M KOH and without activation
before recording the polarization curves. The internal resistance
compensation (iR) drop was compensated for at 95% for HER and
85% for OER. The long-term durability test was performed using
chronopotentiometric measurements, which were carried out without
compensating for iR drop. The reference electrode was calibrated to
the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE): E (RHE) = E (Ag/AgCl) +
(0.197 + 0.059 pH).
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The iron-doped molybdenum disulfide was prepared by a one-
pot solvothermal reaction of 0.05 mmol (NH4)2MoS4 with
different molar amounts of FeCl3·6H2O in DMF at 200 °C for
12 h. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to
monitor the morphology changes of Fe-MoS2. Figure 1a and b
indicated that the as-prepared Fe-MoS2-1 was uniform, hinged
flakes with a rough surface. Increasing the molar amount of iron
to 0.02 mmol moderated the degree of hinging in these
nanowafers, and the edge contour became more prominent
(Figure 1c and d). Further increasing the amount of iron to
0.03 mmol resulted in very uniform and smooth, flat
nanowafers with a diameter of ca. 250 nm and a thickness of
ca. 30 nm (Figure 1e and f). When the molar ratio of Fe to Mo
was increased to 4:5, each flat nanowafer began to curve into a
concave morphology (Figure 1g and h). When the reaction was
carried out in an Fe/Mo molar ratio of 1:1, this curvature of the
wafer was increased, and we obtained Fe-MoS2-5 in the shape
of a “nanocanopy” with a diameter of less than 200 nm (Figure
1i and j). For comparison, we also prepared another two Fe-
MoS2 samples by reactions of FeCl3·6H2O with (NH4)2MoS4
in molar ratios of 7:5 and 2:1. In both cases, the nanowafers got
reunited thoroughly (Figures S2 and S3). Changing the
amount of iron, therefore, achieved stepwise control of the
iron-doped molybdenum disulfide nanoparticle morphology.
We proposed that these Fe-MoS2-5 nanocanopies would have
more active sites due to the tension caused by the bending,
thereby improving electrocatalytic performance in water
splitting.47
X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to determine the
crystallinity of the products. As shown in Figure S4, the
PXRD patterns of this material revealed only the crystal phase
of MoS2. The main peaks at 32.7° and 57.2° indexed to the
(100) and (110) reflections, respectively, while the peak at
14.4° is replaced by two peaks at 9.3° and 18.6°. The d-spacing
value corresponding to the peak at 9.3° was calculated to be 9.4
Å, which is much larger than the pristine 2H-MoS2. In situ
synthesis or post-treatment of bulk MoS2 to control the
interlayer spacing of MoS2 has been reported previously.48
Jeong et al. adjusted the interlayer distance of transition metal
chalcogenide with different alkyl amines.49 Zheng et al.
reported that spacing between adjacent MoS2 layers could be
increased through intercalation of Li, K, and Na ions.50 Sun et
al. prepared an edge-terminated and interlayer-expanded MoS2
catalyst with an interlayer spacing of 9.4 Å by reduction of
Inorg. Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Inorganic Chemistry
Figure 1. SEM images of Fe-MoS2 with different reactant molar ratios
of Fe/Mo: 0.2 (a, b), 0.4 (c, d), 0.6 (e, f), 0.8 (g, h), and 1 (i, j).
(NH4)2MoS4 in DMF using microwave heating.51 In our
reaction system, DMF was also selected as a solvent to facilitate
the reaction of (NH4)2MoS4 with FeCl3·6H2O. A HAADF-
STEM image (Figure 2a) and the corresponding SAED pattern
(Figure 2b) of Fe-MoS2 indicated a relatively uniform,
amorphous surface. The high-resolution transmission electron
microscopy (HRTEM) image of Fe-MoS2 (Figure 2c) further
confirmed the enlarged interlayer of 9.4 Å, which was
consistent with the 002 plane appearing at a low angle in the
PXRD patterns.44 Figure 2c also indicated the basal plane
C DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.9b01814
Article
Figure 2. (a) HAADF-STEM image of Fe-MoS2-5. (b) The
corresponding SAED pattern of Fe-MoS2-5. (c) HRTEM image of
Fe-MoS2-5. (d) EDS mapping of the elemental distributions in Fe-
MoS2-5.
lattice spacing of 2.7 Å, which was consistent with the d spacing
of MoS2 (100).52 The EDS elemental mapping images of Mo,
Fe, S, and O (Figure 2d) revealed the uniform distribution of
these elements in Fe-MoS2. The presence of excess sulfur and
oxygen in the EDS spectrum of Fe-MoS2 (Figure S5) suggested
the iron in Fe-MoS2 was likely present as iron oxide and iron
sulfide. The accurate Fe content in the Fe-MoS2 was
determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission
spectroscopy (ICP-AES) analysis (Table S1).
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) full spectrum
(Figure S6) confirmed the presence of Mo, Fe, S, and O,
with an additional peak located at 283.9 eV, from the charged
correction calibration carbon. The Mo 3d peaks located at
232.4 and 228.8 eV corresponded to Mo 3d3/2 and Mo 3d5/2
(Figure 3a), indicating a +4 valence state of molybdenum
bound to sulfur.53 The peak at 235.4 eV was attributed to the
Mo(VI) 3d3/2 arising from the atmospheric oxidation of
Mo(IV).44 Two dominant doublet peaks at 161.5 and 162.8 eV
(Figure 3b) correspond to S 2p3/2 and 2p1/2, indicating divalent
sulfide ions. The oxidation states of Mo and S in Fe-MoS2
matched well with those of pure MoS2 (Figure S7). The Fe 2p
peaks centered at 711 and 724.5 eV (Figure 3c) were assigned
to Fe 2p3/2 and Fe 2p1/2, indicating the formation of Fe(II).
The peak at 531.8 eV can be attributed to O remaining in the
sample, and the peak at 533.1 eV can be assigned to H2O
(Figure 3d).
MoS2 is recognized as an excellent catalyst for the hydrogen
evolution reaction. Here, we evaluate the HER activities of
various Fe-MoS2 electrocatalysts, MoS2, and commercial Pt/C
through linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) curves in 0.5 M
H2SO4. Figures 4a, S8, and S9 revealed that Fe-MoS2-5 had
superior HER catalytic activity, requiring only 173 mV to drive
the current density of 10 mA cm−2, which was much better
than those of MoS2 and other Fe-MoS2. The corresponding
Tafel plot of Fe-MoS2-5 (40.1 mV dec−1) is smaller than that of
pure MoS2 (44.6 mV dec−1) and close to that of the
Inorg. Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Inorganic Chemistry Article

Figure 3. XPS spectra of Fe-MoS2: (a) Mo 3d spectrum, (b) S 2p spectrum, (c) Fe 2p spectrum, and (d) O 1s spectrum.

Figure 4. (a) Linear sweep voltammetry curves with a 5 mV/s sweep rate. (b) Tafel plots obtained from the polarization curves. (c) Double-layer
capacitance (Cdl) for MoS2 and Fe-MoS2-5. (d) Durability test for Fe-MoS2-5 after CV 1000 cycles.

commercial Pt/C (27.9 mV dec−1), as shown in Figure 4b, capacitance (Cdl) of the catalysts was obtained through a
which means its electrocatalytic kinetics toward HER are simple CV test at different scan rates (Figure S10). The larger
superior to those of MoS2. The electrochemical double-layer Cdl value of Fe-MoS2-5 (39.8 mF cm−2; Figure 4c) indicated
D DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.9b01814
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Inorganic Chemistry Article

Figure 5. (a) The HER polarization curves at 2 mV s−1 in 1.0 M KOH. (b) Tafel plots obtained from the polarization curves. (c) The OER
polarization curves at 2 mV s−1 in 1.0 M KOH. (d) Tafel plots obtained from the polarization curves. (e) Double-layer capacitance (Cdl) for MoS2/
NF and Fe-MoS2/NF. (f) The chronopotentiometric measurement of Fe-MoS2/NF.

that Fe-MoS2-5 had more electrochemically active surface
(ECSA) for the HER than pure MoS2 (14.9 mF cm−2). The
long-term stability of Fe-MoS2-5 was also investigated through
polarization curves before and after 1000 continuous cyclic
voltammetry (CV) cycles. No significant performance degra-
dation was observed after 1000 CV cycles in Figure 4d,
illustrating ultrahigh electrochemical stability of Fe-MoS2-5 for
HER in 0.5 M H2SO4. After electrocatalysis, we still can tell the
general shape of the nanowafers, but there was some degree of
agglomeration (Figure S11).
It is noted that two-dimensional (2D) MoS2 is a typical HER
electrocatalyst but possesses poor OER activity. Doping with
transition metals and/or in situ growth on a three-dimensional
porous and conductive substrate such as nickel foam (NF) are
potential strategies for increasing the number of active OER
electrocatalystic sites. We therefore reacted (NH4)2MoS4 (0.05
E DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.9b01814
mmol) with equimolar FeCl3·6H2O in the presence of NF in
DMF under solvothermal conditions to generate amorphous
Fe-MoS2 nanoparticles (Figure S12) on NF (denoted as Fe-
MoS2/NF), which might be directly used for water splitting in
alkaline media. The PXRD patterns of the resulting material
scraped from nickel foam revealed that the diffraction patterns
were perfectly consistent with those of metallic Ni and MoS2
(Figure S13). XPS indicated the presence of Mo, Fe, and S with
the same valence states as in Fe-MoS2 powder (Figure S6), and
the EDS mapping of Fe-MoS2/NF demonstrated that Ni, Mo,
S, and Fe elements distribute equally (Figure S14). The HER
polarization curves (with iR correction) of Fe-MoS2/NF,
MoS2/NF, and a commercial Pt/C electrode in 1 M KOH
(Figure 5a) indicated that Fe-MoS2/NF exhibited significantly
higher HER catalytic activity requiring only 157 mV to achieve
a current density of 10 mA cm−2, with a Tafel slope of 85.6 mV
Inorg. Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Inorganic Chemistry Article

Figure 6. XPS spectra: (a) Mo 3d spectrum of MoS2 and Fe-MoS2, (b) Fe 2p spectrum of Fe-MoS2/NF before and after OER.

Figure 7. (a) Steady-state polarization curve of Fe-MoS2/NF in 1.0 M KOH for overall water splitting. (b) Chronopotentiometric curve. The inset
is an optical image of Fe-MoS2/NF electrodes for an overall water splitting device.

dec−1 (Figure 5b). OER polarization curves revealed again that
Fe-MoS2/NF was superior to MoS2/NF and bare NF, requiring
an overpotential of 230 mV to approach 20 mA cm−2 (Figure
5c). The Tafel slope for Fe-MoS2/NF was 78.7 mV dec−1
(Figure 5d), indicative of outstanding catalytic kinetics
compared to MoS2/NF (200.2 mV dec−1) and bare NF
(174.2 mV dec−1). As expected, the Cdl value of Fe-MoS2/NF
is also larger than MoS2/NF (Figure 5e) through a simple CV
test at different scan rates (Figure S15). The stability of Fe-
MoS2/NF for the OER was evaluated by chronopotentiometric
measurement at a fixed current density of 10 mA cm−2 without
IR correction, and no significant decrease in catalytic
performance can be observed in Figure 5f even after 140 h.
In order to investigate the possible factors for the enhanced
electrocatalytic performance of Fe-MoS2, XPS was further
carried out to understand the effect of iron doping. For the
MoS2 without Fe doping, the peaks of Mo 3d5/2 and Mo 3d3/2
appear at 228.6 and 232.1 eV, respectively. While for Fe-MoS2,
the binding energies of Mo 3d5/2 and Mo 3d3/2 shift to higher
position at 228.8 and 232.4 eV, indicating the modified
electronic structure of Mo (Figure 6a). Therefore, the strong
coupling between Fe and MoS2 leads to the promotion of
electrocatalytic activity. Additionally, by comparing the XPS
3d3/2 got shifted to a lower position due to the electron transfer
process during OER. Through the analysis of the above XPS
results and the comparison of OER performances between Fe-
MoS2 and the Fe-MoS2/NF (Figure S17), the remarkable
electrocatalytic performance of Fe-MoS2 can be ascribed to the
successful doping of Fe and the effective construction of Fe-
MoS2 and NF.54−56
In order to apply Fe-MoS2/NF to practical use, we
constructed an electrolysis system with a two-electrode setup
using Fe-MoS2/NF (anode)//Fe-MoS2/NF (cathode) electro-
des for overall water splitting in 1.0 M KOH. Figure 7a showed
the LSV curve of Fe-MoS2/NF, which only demonstrated a cell
voltage of 1.52 V at a current density of 10 mA cm−2. The
overall water splitting performance of Fe-MoS2/NF was
superior to those of many bifunctional electrocatalysts reported
previously, such as Co5Mo1.0O NSs@NF//Co5Mo1.0P NSs@
NF (1.68 V, NSs = nano sheets) and NF/Ni0.8Fe0.2 LDH//
NF/NiS2 (1.55 V, LDH = layered double hydroxide).15,57 The
chronopotentiometric curve of the Fe-MoS2/NF (anode)//Fe-
MoS2/NF (cathode) electrodes is shown in Figure 7b, and no
significant decrease in catalytic performance can be observed
under a fixed current density of 10 mA·cm−2 with continuous
oxygen and hydrogen gas bubbles overflowing the anode and
cathode, respectively (inset of Figure 7b) after 25 h.

■
spectra of Fe 2p before and after OER, we found the signals of
Fe both shifted to higher position, which means the Fe(II)
species is oxidized into Fe(III) species during the OER process CONCLUSION
(Figure 6b). In addition, it can be seen from Figure S16 that In conclusion, we have demonstrated the in situ solvothermal
after OER measurement, the peak intensity of Mo(VI) preparation of a new, earth-abundant Fe-doped MoS2 electro-
disappeared and the binding energies of Mo 3d5/2 and Mo catalyst and constructed it on NF for direct use in HER and
F DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.9b01814
Inorg. Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Inorganic Chemistry
OER. The optimized Fe-MoS2 electrode exhibited high activity
and durability toward HER in acidic solution. The as-
synthesized Fe-MoS2/NF not only possessed superior HER
performance but also showed outstanding OER activity
together with excellent stability. Remarkably, Fe-MoS2/NF
(anode)//Fe-MoS2/NF (cathode) electrodes realized high
performance for the overall water splitting with a cell voltage
of 1.52 V to drive a current density of 10 mA cm−2. This work
not only affords attractive earth-abundant catalysts for
electrolytic hydrogen and oxygen evolution but also provides
a new direction for boosting the electrocatalytic activity
through doping with transition metals and constructing with
substrates such as NF.
■
ASSOCIATED CONTENT
*
S Supporting Information
The Supporting Information is available free of charge on the
ACS Publications website at DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorg-
chem.9b01814.
Figures S1−S17 and Tables S1−S3 (PDF)
■
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Authors
*E-mail: hongwei@suda.edu.cn.
*E-mail: jplang@suda.edu.cn. Tel.: +86-512-65882865. Fax:
+86-512-65880328.
ORCID
Hong-Wei Gu: 0000-0001-9962-4662
Jian-Ping Lang: 0000-0003-2942-7385
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
■
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We gratefully acknowledge the financial supports from the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (21531006 and
21773163), the State Key Laboratory of Organometallic
Chemistry of Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry
(2018kf-05), the “Priority Academic Program Development”
of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, and the Project of
Scientific and Technologic Infrastructure of Suzhou
(SZS201905). We are grateful for the useful comments from
the editor and reviewers.
■
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