Facile preparation of sugarcane bagasse-derived carbon supported MoS2 nanosheets for hydrogen evolution reaction

Increasingly, future energy conversion systems highly demands non-noble metal catalysts with high activity and low cost for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This paper reports the use of waste sugarcane bagasse (SCB)-derived biomass carbon (SCBC) to synthesize carbon-supported molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanosheets for HER activity. The MoS2 nanosheets are uniformly loaded on the SCBC and show a vertical growth trend. Together, a synergistic effect was produced that impacted HER activity. The obtained MoS2/SCBC 2:1 showed admirable HER electrochemical activity, with a minimum overpotential of 142 mV at 10 mA cm−2, Tafel slope of 71 mV·dec-1 and Cdl value of 65.26 mF cm−2. The MoS2/SCBC 2:1 catalyst also exhibited high stability under acidic conditions. In conclusion, a non-noble metal electrocatalyst with low-cost and high-activity for HER from biomass waste has been provided for energy conversion system.