Batch-Prepared Carbon Foam Integrated with CVD Derived Photoactive MoS₂ for Electrocatalysis

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) is well-regarded as a viable alternative to Pt-based electrocatalysts, owing to its highly active edge sites, but its implementation is limited by poor electrical conductivity and low proportions of edge sites. In this work, as-prepared porous carbon foam (CF) substrates with integrated MoS 2 were fabricated using a scalable, robust, and controllable batch-method process. The MoS 2 integrated conductive CF composite (MoS 2 -CF) materials were additionally enhanced through post-process carbonization and sulfurization. Both molybdenum precursor powder sources used to fabricate the MoS 2 -CF composites, MoO 3 and bulk MoS 2 powders, exhibited well-exposed active edge sites with improved photo-response and electrocatalytic activity after post-processing. Most MoS 2 -CF electrodes operated at −10 mA cm −2 per geometric area with magnitude overpotentials (| η |) between 200 and 500 mV in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 , and several electrodes reached | η | < 100 mV. The best performing composites, fabricated with MoO 3 precursor powder and carbonized afterward, displayed a concentration averaged | η | of 134 ± 68 mV with a Tafel slope of 74 ± 15 mV dec −1 and photocurrent response of 96 ± 24 nA. Composites produced with MoO 3 powder also displayed an average 40% lower magnitude overpotential and 75% increase in photo-response when compared to bulk MoS 2 precursor electrodes. In addition to electrocatalytic and photo-response studies performed on the 28 as-prepared CF and post-processed MoS 2 -CF composites, the electrochemically active surface area of each electrode was estimated to determine active surface areas and roughness factors.