MoSe2nanosheets and their graphene hybrids: synthesis, characterization and hydrogen evolution reaction studies

MoSe2 nanosheets and MoSe2/graphene hybrids have been prepared by a facile hydrothermal method. The number of layers of the MoSe2 nanosheets is typically <10 as confirmed directly by transmission electron microscopy and indirectly by a red shift of the characteristic A1g Raman peak. The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) studies show that the onset potentials of MoSe2 and MoSe2/RGO hybrids are only ∼0.15 V vs. RHE and ∼0.05 V vs. RHE, respectively, about 20–30 mV lower than those of MoS2 and its graphene hybrids reported previously. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the Gibbs free energy for atomic hydrogen adsorption (ΔG0H) on MoSe2 edges is closer to thermoneutral than that on MoS2, with an H coverage of about 75% on the edge under operating conditions, which is also higher than that of MoS2 reported in the literature. The consistency between the experimental and computational results indicates that MoSe2 nanosheets have potential to be a better HER catalyst than their MoS2 counterpart.