Direct Vapor Deposition Growth of 1T′ MoTe₂ on Carbon Cloth for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Phase engineering has a profound effect on the chemical bonding and electric configuration, which play significant roles in regulating the activities of catalysts. The metallic phases of transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been proposed to show more excellent performance in electrocatalysis over their semiconductor phase; however, the controllable phase engineering for these compounds remains a challenge. In this work, filmlike 1T′ MoTe2 (F-1T′ MoTe2), filmlike 1T′/2H MoTe2, porous 1T′ MoTe2, small granular 1T′ MoTe2, and large granular 1T′ MoTe2 were successfully synthesized on a flexible carbon cloth (CC) substrate with 3D network structure by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The high activity of the as-synthesized F-1T′ MoTe2/CC electrode for HER in 1 M H2SO4 solution was demonstrated by the small onset overpotential of −230.7 mV, a low Tafel slope of 127.1 mV dec–1, and robust electrochemical durability. The enhanced electrocatalytic activity and stability of F-1T′ MoTe2/CC benefit from excellent catalytically active sites and remarkable conductivity of the F-1T′ MoTe2. The results demonstrate an efficient route to designing and constructing metallic-phase TMD catalysts for high-performance electrocatalytic devices.