Nanostructured transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs) have significant interest towards electrochemical
devices such as fuel cells, metal-ion batteries, due to their unique physical and electrochemical properties.
Herein, we report a facile hydrothermal synthesis of flower-like nanostructured molybdenum
sulphide and its incorporation on to graphene as a potential oxygen reduction reaction catalyst in
alkaline medium. The phase purity and morphological evolution of MoS2 is systematically studied
through X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopic techniques. The electronic states of metal
and non-metallic species are deeply studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The effect of annealing
temperatures and TMC concentrations are also investigated by electrochemical techniques such as cyclic
and linear sweep voltammograms. The optimised electrocatalyst (MoS2/G-500) delivers significant ORR
activity with onset and half-wave potentials of 0.91 and 0.80 V (vs. RHE), respectively. Superior durability
compared to state-of-art Pt/C catalyst is ascertained by repeating potential cycles for about 5000 times
and also by chronoamperometric technique. Finally, the hybrid catalyst is evaluated in AEMFC as cathode
catalyst which delivers peak power density of about 29 mW cm�2 under ambient temperature and
pressure. The present findings emphasis that MoS2/G catalyst is promising as cost-effective and alternative
to noble metal-based catalysts for fuel cell applications