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Published on: December 6, 2021
Engineering the Local Atomic Configuration in 2H TMDs for Efficient Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution.
Eunbin Son1, Sangjin Lee2, Jihyung Seo1
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Semiconductor Materials and Devices Engineering, Graduate School of Carbon Neutrality, Low Dimensional Carbon Materials Center, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan 44919, Republic of Korea.
Introducing heavily doped molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) with vanadium (V) enhances its catalytic activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Coalesced V atoms in MoS2 boost performance by activating the basal plane and improving conductivity.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Heteroatom doping is a common strategy to enhance the electrocatalytic activity of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), particularly MoS2.
- The basal plane of TMDs is typically inactive, and doping aims to improve its catalytic properties.
- Understanding the impact of atomic configuration in doped TMDs is limited due to challenges in synthesizing highly doped materials.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a facile synthesis method for heavily doped MoS2 with controlled V doping concentrations.
- To investigate the relationship between V doping configuration, basal plane activation, and electrical conductivity in MoS2.
- To evaluate the electrocatalytic performance of V-doped MoS2 for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).
Main Methods:
- Employed intermediate-reaction-mediated chemical vapor deposition (CVD) for synthesizing heavily doped MoS2.
- Achieved doping concentrations exceeding 16% for vanadium (V) in MoS2.
- Utilized experimental and theoretical analyses to study the atomic configuration, properties, and HER kinetics.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated that increasing V doping concentration leads to V atom coalescence in the MoS2 lattice.
- Observed enhanced basal plane activation and improved electrical conductivity of MoS2 with increasing V doping.
- Coalesced V-doped MoS2 exhibited superior HER performance with a low overpotential of 100 mV at 10 mA cm-2, outperforming pristine and single-atom-doped MoS2.
Conclusions:
- Coalesced V doping is an effective strategy to simultaneously activate the basal plane and enhance conductivity in MoS2.
- The engineered atomic configuration of coalesced V-doped MoS2 significantly accelerates HER kinetics.
- This work presents a promising route for designing advanced 2D nanomaterials for efficient electrocatalysis.
