Abstract
Transition-metal dichalcogenides have emerged as promising non-noble-metal electrocatalysts for efficient hydrogen production through the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this work, we fabricated the graphitic carbon nitride-decorated cobalt diselenide (gC(3)N(4)-CoSe(2)) nanocomposites via the facile hydrothermal method. The prepared gC(3)N(4)-CoSe(2) nanocomposites displayed an interconnected and aggregated morphology of gC(3)N(4)-decorated CoSe(2) nanoparticles with offering large surface area of 82 m(2)/g. The gC(3)N(4)-CoSe(2) nanocomposites exhibited excellent HER activity with a low overpotential (141 mV) and tiny Tafel slope (62 mV/dec) with excellent durability for 100 h at 10 mA/cm(2) in an alkaline electrolyte. These outstanding HER performances of gC(3)N(4)-CoSe(2) can be ascribed to the synergistic interaction between the electrochemically active porous CoSe(2) nanoparticles and the highly conductive gC(3)N(4) nanosheets. These results indicate that the gC(3)N(4)-CoSe(2) nanocomposites hold promising and efficient HER electrocatalysts for sustainable green hydrogen production.