Effects of p- and n-type Doping in Inorganic Fullerene MoS₂ on the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

In this report, a systematic study of the effects of p- and n-type doping of the inorganic fullerene (IF) MoS₂ on the efficiency of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is described. Active edge site enriched IF-MoS₂, promoted by strategically introducing Nb (p-type) and Re (n-type) dopants (below 500 ppm), enables facile HER over a range of pH values. Experimental results suggest that although Nb-doping on IF-MoS₂ leads to better electrocatalytic HER activity in an alkaline medium with an onset potential difference of 80 mV, Re-doping gives excellent activity in an acidic medium. The present work presents a systematic study of HER activity by finely tuning the activity in different electrolyte media with varied pH values through deliberate doping of the parent catalyst with p- and n- type materials. The doped IF-MoS₂ catalysts exhibit excellent catalytic activity even with sea water as an electrolyte.