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Title: Activating and optimizing MoS 2 basal planes for hydrogen evolution through the formation of strained sulphur vacancies

Abstract

As a promising non-precious catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction, molybdenum disulphide (MoS 2) is known to contain active edge sites and an inert basal plane. Activating the MoS 2 basal plane could further enhance its HER activity but is not often a strategy for doing so. Herein, we report the first activation and optimization of the basal plane of monolayer 2H-MoS 2 for HER by introducing sulphur (S) vacancies and strain. Our theoretical and experimental results show that the S-vacancies are new catalytic sites in the basal plane, where gap states around the Fermi level allow hydrogen to bind directly to exposed Mo atoms. The hydrogen adsorption free energy (ΔG H) can be further manipulated by straining the surface with S-vacancies, which fine-tunes the catalytic activity. Furthermore, proper combinations of S-vacancy and strain yield the optimal ΔG H = 0 eV, which allows us to achieve the highest intrinsic HER activity among molybdenum-sulphide-based catalysts.

Authors:
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)
  2. Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  3. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)
  4. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center on Nanostructuring for Efficient Energy Conversion (CNEEC); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1257223
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-76SF00515
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Materials
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 15; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1476-1122
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; chemical engineering; electrocatalysis; two-dimensional materials

Citation Formats

Li, Hong, Tsai, Charlie, Koh, Ai Leen, Cai, Lili, Contryman, Alex W., Fragapane, Alex H., Zhao, Jiheng, Han, Hyun Soon, Manoharan, Hari C., Abild-Pedersen, Frank, Nørskov, Jens K., and Zheng, Xiaolin. Activating and optimizing MoS2 basal planes for hydrogen evolution through the formation of strained sulphur vacancies. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1038/NMAT4465.
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Li, Hong, Tsai, Charlie, Koh, Ai Leen, Cai, Lili, Contryman, Alex W., Fragapane, Alex H., Zhao, Jiheng, Han, Hyun Soon, Manoharan, Hari C., Abild-Pedersen, Frank, Nørskov, Jens K., & Zheng, Xiaolin. Activating and optimizing MoS2 basal planes for hydrogen evolution through the formation of strained sulphur vacancies. United States. doi:10.1038/NMAT4465.
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Li, Hong, Tsai, Charlie, Koh, Ai Leen, Cai, Lili, Contryman, Alex W., Fragapane, Alex H., Zhao, Jiheng, Han, Hyun Soon, Manoharan, Hari C., Abild-Pedersen, Frank, Nørskov, Jens K., and Zheng, Xiaolin. Mon . "Activating and optimizing MoS2 basal planes for hydrogen evolution through the formation of strained sulphur vacancies". United States. doi:10.1038/NMAT4465. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1257223.
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@article{osti_1257223,
title = {Activating and optimizing MoS2 basal planes for hydrogen evolution through the formation of strained sulphur vacancies},
author = {Li, Hong and Tsai, Charlie and Koh, Ai Leen and Cai, Lili and Contryman, Alex W. and Fragapane, Alex H. and Zhao, Jiheng and Han, Hyun Soon and Manoharan, Hari C. and Abild-Pedersen, Frank and Nørskov, Jens K. and Zheng, Xiaolin},
abstractNote = {As a promising non-precious catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction, molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) is known to contain active edge sites and an inert basal plane. Activating the MoS2 basal plane could further enhance its HER activity but is not often a strategy for doing so. Herein, we report the first activation and optimization of the basal plane of monolayer 2H-MoS2 for HER by introducing sulphur (S) vacancies and strain. Our theoretical and experimental results show that the S-vacancies are new catalytic sites in the basal plane, where gap states around the Fermi level allow hydrogen to bind directly to exposed Mo atoms. The hydrogen adsorption free energy (ΔGH) can be further manipulated by straining the surface with S-vacancies, which fine-tunes the catalytic activity. Furthermore, proper combinations of S-vacancy and strain yield the optimal ΔGH = 0 eV, which allows us to achieve the highest intrinsic HER activity among molybdenum-sulphide-based catalysts.},
doi = {10.1038/NMAT4465},
journal = {Nature Materials},
number = 1,
volume = 15,
place = {United States},
year = {2015},
month = {11}
}
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DOI:  10.1038/NMAT4465
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Defect engineering of molybdenum disulfide through ion irradiation to boost hydrogen evolution reaction performance
    journal, April 2019

    Doping-induced structural phase transition in cobalt diselenide enables enhanced hydrogen evolution catalysis
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    journal, May 2018

    Electrodeposition of amorphous molybdenum sulfide thin film for electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction
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    MoS2 Coexisting in 1T and 2H Phases Synthesized by Common Hydrothermal Method for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
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    Discovery of Superconductivity in 2M WS 2 with Possible Topological Surface States
    journal, June 2019

    Negative Charging of Transition‐Metal Phosphides via Strong Electronic Coupling for Destabilization of Alkaline Water
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    The Holy Grail in Platinum‐Free Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution: Molybdenum‐Based Catalysts and Recent Advances
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    Engineering Two-Dimensional Materials and Their Heterostructures as High-Performance Electrocatalysts
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    Unconventional CN vacancies suppress iron-leaching in Prussian blue analogue pre-catalyst for boosted oxygen evolution catalysis
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