Nat. Commun.: Frenkel-defected monolayer MoS2 catalysts for efficient hydrogen evolution

Frenkel-defected monolayer MoS₂ catalysts for efficient hydrogen evolution

Authors：

Jie Xu,^1,+ Gonglei Shao,^2,3,+ Xuan Tang,^4,+ Fang Lv,¹ Haiyan Xiang,² Changfei Jing,⁵ Song Liu,^2,* Sheng Dai,^4,* Yanguang Li,^1,* Jun Luo^5,* & Zhen Zhou³

Institutions：

¹Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Soochow University, 215123 Suzhou, China

²State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, 410082 Changsha, Hunan, China

³Engineering Research Center of Advanced Functional Material Manufacturing of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering, Zhengzhou University, 450001 Zhengzhou, China

⁴Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Centre, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology, 200237 Shanghai, China.

⁵School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin Key Lab of Photoelectric Materials & Devices, Tianjin University of Technology, 300384 Tianjin, China

Abstract：

Defect engineering is an effective strategy to improve the activity of two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide base planes toward electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction. Here, we report a Frenkel-defected monolayer MoS₂ catalyst, in which a fraction of Mo atoms in MoS₂ spontaneously leave their places in the lattice, creating vacancies and becoming interstitials by lodging in nearby locations. Unique charge distributions are introduced in the MoS₂ surface planes, and those interstitial Mo atoms are more conducive to H adsorption, thus greatly promoting the HER activity of monolayer MoS₂ base planes. At the current density of 10 mA cm⁻², the optimal Frenkel-defected monolayer MoS₂ exhibits a lower overpotential (164 mV) than either pristine monolayer MoS₂ surface plane (358 mV) or Pt-single-atom doped MoS₂ (211 mV). This work provides insights into the structure-property relationship of point-defected MoS₂ and highlights the advantages of Frenkel defects in tuning the catalytic performance of MoS₂ materials.

IF：

14.919

Link：

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29929-7