Design Strategies for Development of TMD-Based Heterostructures in Electrochemical Energy Systems

Abstract

Summary Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are promising materials for use in electrocatalytic and electrochemical energy-storage systems owing to their exceptional physicochemical properties, including large surface area, remarkable mechanical properties, high catalytic activity, chemical stability, and low cost. In further improving material properties tailored to meet application-specific requirements, heterostructure construction holds significant advantages, benefiting from the synergistic effect between constituents involved. TMD-based heterostructures have been widely explored recently, giving rise to diverse materials with desirable characteristics such as significantly increased interfacial contact of low resistance for efficient electron transfers, constituent-dependent electronic structure, tunable layer distances facilitating easily intercalation of redox species, and increased surface area for effective interaction with electrolyte. In this review, TMD-based heterostructures are assessed for performance in electrocatalytic conversion (hydrogen evolution reaction) and electrochemical energy-storage systems (NiB/LiB/supercapacitors). The impactful strategies employed in overcoming key challenges are evaluated, and finally, future directions for TMD-based heterostructure construction are presented.