ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Energy Res.
Sec. Fuel Cells, Electrolyzers and Membrane Reactors
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2025.1683318
This article is part of the Research TopicCarbon-based nanomaterials for fuel cell applicationsView all articles
Interfacial p–n Coupling in Cu3N/1T-MoS2 Heterojunctions Drives Efficient and Durable Acidic Hydrogen Evolution
Provisionally accepted
- 1Jishou University, Jishou, China
- 2University of Central Florida, Orlando, United States
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Rational interfacial engineering is crucial to designing non‑precious electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here we report a Cu3N/1T‑MoS2 heterojunction in which ultrathin 1T‑MoS2 nanosheets are conformally grown on conductive p‑type Cu3N nanocubes. Spectroscopy and microscopy reveal intimate lattice contact and interfacial strain, while XPS indicates charge redistribution across the junction. In 0.5 M H₂SO₄, the optimized 1:1 composite delivers an overpotential of 387 mV at 50 mA cm⁻2 and a Tafel slope of 57 mV dec⁻1, outperforming both constituents (MoS2 ≈ 456 mV; Cu3N inactive at this current density). Continuous operation for 150 h demonstrates excellent acid stability. Electrochemical impedance and double‑layer capacitance analyses show the lowest charge‑transfer resistance and the highest electrochemically active surface area among all samples (Cdl = 103.6 mF cm⁻2), corroborating rapid electron transport and abundant accessible sites. The activity enhancement arises from a p–n heterojunction with a built‑in field that promotes directional electron flow to MoS2 active edges, together with strain‑induced defect exposure. This work identifies Cu3N as an effective platform to stabilize conductive MoS₂ and provides design rules for interface‑engineered HER catalysts.
Keywords: Cu3N, 1T-MoS2, p–n heterojunction, Electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution, Interfacial engineering
Received: 10 Aug 2025; Accepted: 13 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang, Xia, Joshua, Ponnusamy and Yu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ao Yu, ao.yu@ucf.edu
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