A high-efficiency electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution based on tree-like amorphous MoS₂ nanostructures prepared by glancing angle deposition

Metal sulfides are commonly used in energy storage and electrocatalysis due to their redox centers and active sites. Here, nanostructured amorphous MoS₂ with highly efficient electrocatalytic performance was designed and prepared for hydrogen production using glancing angle deposition (GLAD) magnetron sputtering (MS). A special tree-like MoS₂ was obtained under a glancing angle of 5° as demonstrated by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. This tree-like nanostructure MoS₂ exhibited excellent HER activity with a low over potential of 280 ​mV ​at 10 ​mA ​cm⁻² and a small Tafel slope of 63 ​mV dec⁻¹. Further, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) investigations revealed the different chemical states of sulfur element. The enhancement of HER performance is attributed to the unsaturated sulfur edges and the increased surface contact area. The results obtained from this study are expected to facilitate the large scale fabrication of sulfide catalysts for HER.