Preparation and Reconstruction Behavior in Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Reaction of Co3S4 Electrode Material
ZHENG Deyong1,2, JIN Huihui2, JI Pengxia1,2,3,*
1 Ningxia Key Laboratory of CAE on Intelligent Equipment, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China 2 State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China 3 Guangdong Research Center for Interfacial Engineering of Functional Materials, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, Guangdong, China
Abstract: The reconstruction phenomenon of catalyst in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is rarely reported due to its reaction potential being much lower than that of oxygen evolution reaction (OER). To this end, the self-supporting carbon cloth (CC) supported pure phase Co3S4 electrode material was successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal combined sulfurized two-step approach, and the microstructure shows a green wart sea anemone-like structure assembled by nanoparticles. In the HER electrochemical test of 1 mol/L KOH, the electrode material can undergo rapid and complete reconstruction, and the catalytic activity is significantly improved. At 100 mA·cm-2, the overpotential decreases by about 55 mV. The reconstruction was mainly induced by sulfur leaching. The reconstructed electrode material phase is Co(OH)2, and its morphology has been completely transformed into a large specific surface flower structure formed by stacking several layers of nanosheets, exposing more active sites, promoting the electrolyte-electrode contact, accelerating the mass transfer process, thus improving catalytic activity. This discovery is helpful for researchers to preliminarily understand the reconstruction behavior of sulfide electrode materials in HER.
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