A facile method to produce MoSe2/MXene hybrid nanoflowers with enhanced electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution

Abstract Transition metal dichalcogenides are considered as one of the most attractive candidates for hydrogen evolution reactions but their inferior conductivity is utterly disappointing. Herein, by virtue of a facile, scalable hydrothermal method, MoSe2 is in-situ grown on the ultrathin titanium carbide substrate (MXene), generating a novel three-dimensional nanoflower with freestanding petals for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction. The ingenious introduction of the highly-conductive MXene as the skeleton for the MoSe2 growth significantly facilitates the charge/ion transport and a mountain of electrochemical active sites are exposed thanks to its unique three-dimensional architecture. Benefiting from these advantageous properties, the MoSe2/MXene hybrid nanoflowers exhibit a low onset potential of 61 mV vs. RHE for HER at acidic environment and around 6-fold current density increase is observed at −300 mV compared with MoSe2. Notably, they display long-term cycling viability, experiencing negligible decay after 2000 cycles. This work paves the way for future applications of MXene-based nanomaterials in other clean-energy-conversion reactions.