Interfacial engineering of MoS2/TiO2 hybrids for enhanced electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction

Herein, we show that the synergistic effect between MoS2 and TiO2 enhances the hydrogen evolution reaction ( HER) performance of their hybrids, which is tunable via interface engineering. Among several interfaces, MoS2/TiO2-H complexes exhibit the best HER activity. The observed Tafel slope of 66.9mV/dec is well in range of previous literature reports, suggesting a Volmer-Heyrovsky mechanism. Enhanced activities were attributed to abundant active sites at the interfaces, as well as improved charge transfer efficiency. Our results emphasize the roles that interfaces play in enhancing the HER activities of MoS2-based heterogeneous catalysts. (C) 2016 The Japan Society of Applied Physics