Structural and Electronic Optimization of MoS₂ Edges for Hydrogen Evolution

Abstract

The activity and accessibility of MoS 2 edge sites are critical to deliver high hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) efficiency. Here, a porous carbon network confining ultrasmall N-doped MoS 2 nanocrystals (N-MoS 2 /CN) is fabricated by a selftemplating strategy, which realizes synergistically structural and electronic modulations of MoS 2 edges. Experiments and density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the N dopants could activate MoS 2 edges for HER, while the porous carbon network could deliver high accessibility of the active sites from N-MoS 2 nanocrystals. Consequently, N-MoS 2 /CN possesses superior HER activity with an overpotential of 114 mV at 10 mA cm −2 and excellent stability over 10 h, delivering one of best MoS 2based HER electrocatalysts. Moreover, this study opens a new venue for optimizing materials with enhanced accessible catalytic sites for energy-related applications.

Multifunctional Nickel Sulfide Nanosheet Arrays for Solar‐Intensified Oxygen Evolution Reaction

“…[ 9 ] The well‐defined lattice fringe of Ni 3 S 2 crystal displays the discontinuous distribution, indicating the low crystallinity and defect‐rich structure of Ni 3 S 2 nanosheets. [ 32 ] Such defect‐rich structure of Ni 3 S 2 crystal possesses the plentiful boundaries around the discontinuous crystalline domains, which are expected to provide more active sites for the adsorption of reactive species and lead to a higher electrocatalytic performance. [ 33 ]…”

Synergistic effect of cocatalytic NiSe2 on stable 1T-MoS2 for hydrogen evolution

“…Hydrogen is recognized as a promising clean energy resource because of its high gravimetric energy density and no CO 2 release. [1][2][3][4] Among the existing H 2 production methods, electrochemical and photocatalytic hydrogen evolution by water splitting have been widely recognized as the most promising strategies. [5][6][7] Especially, electrochemical technology has significant advantages due to its quick, straightforward and highly efficient fashion.…”

Strategies to improve electrocatalytic and photocatalytic performance of two-dimensional materials for hydrogen evolution reaction

“…Based on the defects of MoS2, the main research strategy has been the synthesis of differently shaped MoS2 nanostructures, such as nanowires, nano-slices, and nano-flowers [63]. Among these, nanosheets are considered to be the most promising structure to improve HER performance [64].…”

“…The three-dimensional structure of the carbon material allowed effective penetration of the electrolyte to reach the active sites. Wang et al [64] prepared N-MoS2/CN by two-part roasting using dicyandiamide and tetrahexamolybdate as precursors (Fig. 30(a)).…”