Edge terminated and interlayer expanded pristine MoS2 nanostructures with 1T on 2H phase, for enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

Pristine molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) nanostructures with 1T on 2H phase have been prepared by tuning the growth time in hydrothermal synthesis. The optimized sample has an expanded interlayer and it exhibits striking kinetic metrics with an onset potential of - 0.13 V, Tafel slope of 49 mV/decade, and an exchange current density of 3.98 × 10 −3 mA, performing best among the pristine MoS 2 based hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts reported so far. The edge terminated structure, together with the expanded interlayer, is believed to modify the electronic structure to enhance the conductivity of the compound. The Mott-Schottky analysis of the optimized sample indicated a decrease in band bending and an enhancement in the charge transfer. The promising HER response obtained with sufficiently low growth time and growth temperature for the pristine MoS 2 nanostructures suggests a potential way to design high-performance HER catalysts based on the compound. • Fabricated edge terminated, interlayer expanded 1T on 2H MoS 2 nanostructures. • 1T phase with HER active (001) plane obtained without the addition of any dopant. • Optimized sample has lower onset potential of −0.13 V and Tafel slope of 49 mV/dec. • High exchange current density of 3.98 × 10 −3 mA for the optimized sample. • Durable HER catalyst with high stability using MoS 2 nanostructures.