Fruit waste-derived cellulose-templated hierarchical spheres of ultrathin MoS2 nanosheets for oxygen evolution reactions

Rising interest in cleaner and sustainable energy propelled interest in 2D nanostructured materials for energy conversion and storage technologies, including electrocatalytic materials for metal-air batteries and water splitting devices. Oxygen evolution reactions are key constraints in many energy conversion applications because of their slow kinetics. The present work addressed fruit waste-derived cellulose-templated hierarchical spheres of ultrathin MoS2 (MoCe) nanosheets, synthesized via hydrothermal and lyophilization techniques, for oxygen evolution reactions. The pristine MoS2 and MoCe are thoroughly characterized by Raman, SEM, HRTEM, BET, FTIR, XRD, and XPS analyses to reveal their chemical, structural, morphological, and crystalline features. The quantity of cellulose used for the synthesis of MoCe governs the crystallite size and number of molecular lamellae in each MoS2 nanosheet, which in turn influences the electrocatalytic activity. The MoCe possesses 'Craspedia', a billy flower-like hierarchical microsphere comprising well-organized ultrathin MoS2 nanosheets and furnishes excellent mesoporosity with ample surface-active sites for electrocatalytic activity. A smaller Tafel slope (97 mV.dec-1) make cellulose-templated microspheres of ultrathin MoS2 nanosheets promising electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reactions.