Two-dimensional metal-phase layered molybdenum disulfide for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

The two-dimensional (2D) basal plane of metal-phase molybdenum disulphide (1T-MoS₂) provides a large area of active sites to significantly reduce the overpotential of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), but the long preparation period limits its industrial application. Here, 1T-MoS₂ catalysts derived from molybdenum blue solution (MBS) were prepared in one step using a rapid high-pressure microwave (MW-MoS₂) strategy. This method eliminated the thermodynamic process with a long time required for Mo–O trioxide bond breakage and reduction (Mo^VI → Mo^IV) of the conventional hydrothermal method. Additionally, the introduction of heteroatomic oxygen atoms effectively reduced the build-up of MW-MoS₂ and improved the monolayer/few-layer state and stability. Impressively, MW-MoS₂ has outstanding electrocatalytic performance, with a low overpotential (62 mV) at 10 mA cm⁻² and a small Tafel slope (42 mV dec⁻¹). This provides a simple strategy for the rapid preparation of a 2D sulphide HER catalyst with performance close to that of commercial Pt/C.