Facile One-Step Electrodeposition Fabrication of Amorphous MoS2 Catalysts in Titanium for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Hydrogen is seen as a future energy carrier that will assist the global energy fuel demand. However, it is still necessary to study efficient and inexpensive catalysts that can be used on a large scale to make this technology practical. In this paper the electrodeposition of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) film on titanium (Ti) substrate was performed by cyclic voltammetry and the film was evaluated for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The deposition optimized conditions was 25 cycles and 4 mmol L-1 (NH4)2[MoS4] in 0.1 mol L-1 NaClO4 solution. The film was characterized from X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and they showed an amorphous structure and high catalytic activity for HER. The Tafel slope was 85 mV dec-1 and overpotential at -10 mA cm-2 was -139 mV showing that Ti substrate compared with fluorine-tin doped oxide (FTO) substrate favored the HER and electroactivity of MoS2 films.