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For the electrolysis of aquatic hydrogen process efficiently in alkaline solution, the synthesis of high-activity and low-cost electrocatalyst are needed to reduce the high reaction energy barrier of HER. In this paper, a cost-effective MoS 2 /Cu 1.8 S/NiS@MoS X heterostructure catalyst was synthesized simply by a one-step hydrothermal method. In the preparation process, Cu mesh was used instead of traditional copper salts as a Cu source, enabling the spontaneous formation of Cu 1.8 S and NiS together on a large specific surface area MoS x substrate, which helps to accelerate the dissociation of H 2 O. The catalyst had an overpotential as low as 87 mV at 10 mA/cm2 and only 31 mV was increased after 1000 cycles of CV test in 1 M KOH solution. The characterization analysis showed that the heterogeneous structure of the catalyst contained a large amount of bridging S 2 2− and vacancy defects, which greatly promoted the catalyst stability and catalytic effect. • A heterostructure catalyst with excellent HER activity was synthesized. • The MoS 2 /Cu 1.8 S/NiS@MoS X catalyst was prepared using Cu mesh as a Cu source. • High synergism of Cu 1.8 S with NiS induces a large quantity of bridging S 2 2− active sites in MoS X. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]