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Cited by 147Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion2D Materials and ApplicationsCatalysis and Hydrodesulfurization Studies

Engineering Substrate Interaction To Improve Hydrogen Evolution Catalysis of Monolayer MoS2 Films beyond Pt

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Li, Guoqing, Chen, Zehua, Li, Yifan, Zhang, Du, Yang, Weitao, Liu, Yuanyue, Cao, Linyou·2020·ACS Nano
DOI 10.1021/acsnano.9b07324
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Abstract

MoS 2 holds great promise as a cost-effective alternative to Pt for catalyzing the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) of water, but its reported catalytic efficiency is still worse than that of Pt, the best HER catalyst but too rare and expensive for mass production of hydrogen. We report a strategy to enable the catalytic activity of monolayer MoS 2 films that are even better than that of Pt via engineering the interaction of the monolayer with supporting substrates. The monolayer films were grown with chemical vapor deposition processes and controlled to have an optimal density (7–10%) of sulfur vacancies. We find that the catalytic activity of MoS 2 can be affected by substrates in two ways: forming an interfacial tunneling barrier with MoS 2 and modifying the chemical nature of MoS 2 via charge transfer (proximity doping). Following this understanding, we enable excellent catalytic activities at the monolayer MoS 2 films by using substrates that can provide n-doping to MoS 2 and form low interfacial tunneling barriers with MoS 2, such as Ti. The catalytic performance may be further boosted to be even better than Pt by crumpling the films on Ti coated flexible polymer substrates, as the Tafel slope of the film is substantially decreased with the presence of crumpling-induced compressive strain. The monolayer MoS 2 films show no degradation in catalytic performance after being continuously tested for over 2 months.

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  • Supporting MoS2 on a substrate is an effective way to expose more active sites and improve electrocatalytic performance.

    “Thereinto, supporting MoS2 on a substrate is an effective way to expose more active sites and improve electrocatalytic performance.”

    From Defect-induced growth of MoS2 nanosheets on selectively etched SiC nanowires aerogel for efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution (2025) · cites this paper as [22]

    The Abstract reports that engineering the interaction between monolayer MoS2 and its supporting substrate improves hydrogen-evolution catalytic activity. It attributes the improvement to interfacial tunneling barriers and charge transfer, not exposure of more active sites. The Results and Discussion say the films had comparable surface roughness and controlled sulfur-vacancy density, so the active-site explanation is not supported. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Li, G., Chen, Z., Li, Y., Zhang, D., Yang, W., Liu, Y., & Cao, L.
Affiliations
  • North Carolina State University (US)
  • Duke University (US)
  • The University of Texas at Austin (US)
Corresponding author
Cao, Linyou
ORCID
Venue
ACS Nano
Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Published
2020-01-16
Volume
14
Issue
2
Pages
1707-1714
ISSN
  • 1936-0851 (ISSN-L)
  • 1936-086X
DOI
10.1021/acsnano.9b07324
OpenAlex
W2999798509
Cited by
147
References
11
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 43 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 15
FWCI
5.09
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • ACS Nano (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Basic Energy Sciences (DE-SC0012575)
  • University of Texas at Austin
  • National Science Foundation (EFMA 1741693)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
  • Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › 2D Materials and Applications
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Catalysis and Hydrodesulfurization Studies
Keywords
monolayer MoS2, hydrogen evolution reaction, substrate engineering, sulfur vacancies, titanium substrate, compressive strain, flexible polymer substrates, electrocatalysis, platinum-free catalysts, Tafel slope

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