Controllable Synthesis of CoS2@N/S-Codoped Porous Carbon Derived from ZIF-67 for as a Highly Efficient Catalyst for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

A convenient, controllable method to fabricate an electrode is necessary to achieve the practical application of a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst. In this work, an electrodeposition-ZIF conversion-sulfuration strategy is developed to produce a CoS2@N/S-codoped porous carbon (CoS2@NSC/CFP) to drive the HER efficiently. CoS2@NSC/CFP was prepared by the electrodeposition of Co(OH)(2) on a carbon fiber paper followed by conversion into ZIF-67 and subsequent sulfuration with sulfur. The loading of electroactive components can be controlled easily in the range of 0.7-10.0 mgcm(-2) by varying electrodeposition time from 5 min to 2 h. The resulting material can be employed directly as a working electrode for the HER and it shows an excellent catalytic activity and stability with an overpotential of 95 mV at 10 mAcm(-2) and 158 mV to reach 100 mAcm(-2) in an acidic medium. The high efficiency is related intimately to the high dispersion of ultra-small CoS2 nanoparticles, heteroatom-codoping, and the 3D porous network configuration of the carbon fiber paper.