Properties of Electrodeposited Molybdenum Disulfide on Zinc Oxide and Zinc Oxide/Zinc Sulfide Nanowires

We developed a facile and scalable 3-step hydrothermal, electrodeposition, and annealing technique to synthesize a variety of nanowire heterostructures. The heterojunction catalysts of CP-ZnO-MoS2 and CP-ZnO-ZnS-MoS2 both saw an increase in catalytic activity in the acidic regime, with overpotentials to reach 10 mA/cm2 of 181 mV and 154 mV respectively, over their constituent materials. The CP-ZnO-ZnS-MoS2 catalysts also saw an increase in catalytic activity in the alkaline conditions, requiring only 209 mV to reach 10 mA/cm2. This has been attributed primarily to the synergistic properties of the band alignment structure and the increased surface area afforded by the nanowire structure. The 1T phase was also noted in the CP-ZnO-MoS2 sample, suggesting that this also played a role in increasing the catalytic activity of the sample. Overall, the synthesized nanowire heterostructures were found to be high-performing and gives insight into how the changing band alignment and morphology can play a significant role in increasing the catalytic performance towards HER.