A Molecular MoS 2 Edge Site Mimic for Catalytic Hydrogen Generation
Abstract
Inorganic solids are an important class of catalysts that often derive their activity from sparse active sites that are structurally distinct from the inactive bulk. Rationally optimizing activity is therefore beholden to the challenges in studying these active sites in molecular detail. Here, we report a molecule that mimics the structure of the proposed triangular active edge site fragments of molybdenum disulfide (MoS(2)), a widely used industrial catalyst that has shown promise as a low-cost alternative to platinum for electrocatalytic hydrogen production. By leveraging the robust coordination environment of a pentapyridyl ligand, we synthesized and structurally characterized a well-defined Mo(IV)-disulfide complex that, upon electrochemical reduction, can catalytically generate hydrogen from acidic organic media as well as from acidic water.
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MoS2 shows great potential as a cost-effective HER electrocatalyst due to its low cost, abundant resources, and unique physical and chemical properties.
“Among them, MoS2, with its low cost, abundant resources, and unique physical and chemical properties, shows great potential as a cost-effective HER electrocatalyst [13, 14].”
From Molybdenum disulfide supported on chitin carbon aerogels as an efficient and stable hydrogen evolution electrocatalyst (2025) · cites this paper as [14]
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- Authors
- Karunadasa, H. I., Montalvo, E., Sun, Y., Majda, M., Long, J. R., & Chang, C. J.
- Affiliations
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Long, Jeffrey R.
- Chang, Christopher J.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2012-02-10
- Volume
- 335
- Issue
- 6069
- Pages
- 698-702
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2004026087
- Cited by
- 1,215
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 30 · 2025: 36 · 2024: 51 · 2023: 55 · 2022: 64 · 2021: 64 · 2020: 100 · 2019: 87 · 2018: 120 · 2017: 139 · 2016: 143 · 2015: 126 · 2014: 114 · 2013: 70 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 39.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Metalloenzymes and iron-sulfur proteins
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Organometallic Complex Synthesis and Catalysis
- Keywords
- MoS2, electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution, molecular catalysts, active site mimics, electrochemical reduction
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