Reduced nickel on cobalt sulphide with carbon supported (Ni-CoS/C) composite material as a low-cost and efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

Hydrogen (H-2) is regarded as a future energy carrier and energy economy, but large-scale H-2 production remains a challenging issue for the decade. The half-cell water-splitting reaction depends on the efficiency of electrocatalytic materials. In this study, an efficiently reduced nickel and carbon-supported cobalt sulphide (Ni-CoS/C) were synthesized by a hydrothermal method. The morphology results show that Ni, CoS, and C formed gooseberry masonry, stone pile, and coconut fiber morphologies. The as-synthesized Ni-CoS/C composite was examined for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) using a 0.5 M H2SO4 electrolyte. The Ni-CoS/C composite displayed higher current density (83 mV@10 mA/cm(2)), lower Tafel slope (67 mV/dec), and an improved electrochemical active surface area. Besides, the Ni-CoS/C composite showed higher stability until similar to 2000 cycles without deactivation. This study proposes a novel synthesis of Ni-CoS/C composite for a low-cost cathode material for HER applications.