Construction of Cu₂O-g-C₃N₄/MoS₂ composite material through the decoration of Cu₂O nanoparticles onto the surface of two-dimensional g-C₃N₄/MoS₂ heterostructure for their application in electrochemical hydrogen evolution

This work focused on developing an efficient electrocatalyst comprising a cost-effective metal oxide and two-dimensional layered materials. Tricomponent Cu₂O-g-C₃N₄/MoS₂ composite material was synthesized using a facile two-step procedure for their catalytic application in electrochemical hydrogen evolution. In addition to the more electrochemically active surface area (ECSA), the presence of synergistic properties among the components in the Cu₂O-g-C₃N₄/MoS₂ composite material contributed to the excellent efficiency of the catalyst in the evolution of hydrogen from an aqueous acidic solution. The composite demonstrated a low overpotential of −0.14 V vs RHE at 10 mA/cm² and a high total current density of 237.6 mA/cm² at −0.8 V. The improvement in the performance of the composite material for hydrogen evolution (HER) was supported by PEIS results in addition to CV and LSV. The reaction kinetics of the HER catalyzed by Cu₂O-g-C₃N₄/MoS₂ composite material was explained with the help of the Tafel slope. Moreover, the high durability of the catalyst with no drop in the current density for many hours was established through CA measurement.