Construction of an Amethyst-like MoS(2)@Ni(9)S(8)/Co(3)S(4) Rod Electrocatalyst for Overall Water Splitting

Transition metal sulphide electrocatalytic materials possess the bright overall water-splitting performance of practical electrocatalytic technologies. In this study, an amethyst-like MoS(2)@Ni(9)S(8)/Co(3)S(4) rod electrocatalyst was constructed via a one-step hydrothermal method with in-situ-grown ZIF-67 nanoparticles on nickel foam (NF) as a precursor. The rational design and synthesis of MoS(2)@Ni(9)S(8)/Co(3)S(4) endow the catalyst with neat nanorods morphology and high conductivity. The MoS(2)@Ni(9)S(8)/Co(3)S(4)/NF with the amethyst-like rod structure exposes abundant active sites and displays fast electron-transfer capability. The resultant MoS(2)@Ni(9)S(8)/Co(3)S(4)/NF exhibits outstanding hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalytic activities, with low overpotentials of 81.24 mV (HER) at 10 mA cm(−2) and 159.67 mV (OER) at 50 mA cm(−2) in 1.0 M KOH solution. The full-cell voltage of overall water splitting only achieves 1.45 V at 10 mA cm(−2). The successful preparation of the amethyst-like MoS(2)@Ni(9)S(8)/Co(3)S(4) rod electrocatalyst provides a reliable reference for obtaining efficient electrocatalysts for overall water splitting.