Reconstructing cobalt disulfide nanosheets through sulfur doping hexamethylenetetramine regulated β-Co(OH)₂ for oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract

Exploiting advanced transition metal based electrocatalysts is critical for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) due to their high efficiency in an alkaline environment for water splitting. Herein, CoS₂ nanosheets were synthesized through simple hydrothermal process and sulfurized layered β-Co(OH)₂ nanosheets as a precursor. The regulation strategy of hexamethylenetetramine was employed to create layered single-crystal β-Co(OH)₂ nanosheets. X-ray absorption fine structure indicates the crystal phase reconstructions occur on β-Co(OH)₂ surface during the sulfidation reaction. The sulfurized β-Co(OH)₂ nanosheets present an overpotential of only 297 mV to reach 10 mA·cm^–2, a low Tafel slope of 71.7 mV·dec^–1 and excellent stability for OER. The results clarified that the CoS₂ nanosheets excellent OER performance is attributable to cobalt sulfide sheet structure and structural changes by sulfur dopants. The results of the sulfurized layered β-Co(OH)₂ to produce CoS₂ nanosheets indicate that this strategy may represents a potential replacement for oxygen evolution application, particularly for the large-scale production of water splitting catalysts.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

sulfidation / β-cobalt hydroxide / cobalt disulfide / electrocatalysis / oxygen evolution reaction

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