Advanced 2D molybdenum disulfide for green hydrogen production: Recent progress and future perspectives

  • Meng FANG 1 ,
  • Yuqin PENG 1 ,
  • Puwei WU 1 ,
  • Huan WANG 1 ,
  • Lixin XING 1 ,
  • Ning WANG 1 ,
  • Chunmei TANG 1 ,
  • Ling MENG 1 ,
  • Yuekuan ZHOU , 2 ,
  • Lei DU , 1 ,
  • Siyu YE , 3
Expand
  • 1. Huangpu Hydrogen Energy Innovation Centre, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
  • 2. Sustainable Energy and Environment Thrust, Function Hub, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Guangzhou 511400, China; Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
  • 3. Huangpu Hydrogen Energy Innovation Centre, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China; SinoHykey Technology Company Ltd., Guangzhou 510760, China
yuekuanzhou@ust.hk
Lei.du@gzhu.edu.cn
siyu.ye@gzhu.edu.cn

Received date: 12 Sep 2023

Accepted date: 27 Nov 2023

Published date: 15 Jun 2024

Copyright

2024 Higher Education Press

Abstract

The development of renewable and affordable energy is crucial for building a sustainable society. In this context, establishing a sustainable infrastructure for renewable energy requires the integration of energy storage, specifically use of renewable hydrogen. The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) of electrochemical water splitting is a promising method for producing green hydrogen. Recently, two-dimensional nanomaterials have shown great promise in promoting the HER in terms of both fundamental research and practical applications due to their high specific surface areas and tunable electronic properties. Among them, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), a non-noble metal catalyst, has emerged as a promising alternative to replace expensive platinum-based catalysts for the HER because MoS2 has a high inherent activity, low cost, and abundant reserves. At present, greatly improved activity and stability are urgently needed for MoS2 to enable wide deployment of water electrolysis devices. In this regard, efficient strategies for precisely modifying MoS2 are of interest. Herein, the progress made with MoS2 as an HER catalyst is reviewed, with a focus on modification strategies, including phase engineering, morphology design, defect engineering, heteroatom doping, and heterostructure construction. It is believed that these strategies will be helpful in designing and developing high-performance and low-cost MoS2-based catalysts by lowering the charge transfer barrier, increasing the active site density, and optimizing the surface hydrophilicity. In addition, the challenges of MoS2 electrocatalysts and perspectives for future research and development of these catalysts are discussed.

Cite this article

Meng FANG , Yuqin PENG , Puwei WU , Huan WANG , Lixin XING , Ning WANG , Chunmei TANG , Ling MENG , Yuekuan ZHOU , Lei DU , Siyu YE . Advanced 2D molybdenum disulfide for green hydrogen production: Recent progress and future perspectives[J]. Frontiers in Energy, 2024 , 18(3) : 308 -329 . DOI: 10.1007/s11708-024-0916-x

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Outstanding Youth Project of Guangdong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, China (Grant No. 2022B1515020020), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 2225071013), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation, China (No. 2022B1515120079), the Funding by Science and Technology Projects in Guangzhou, China (No. 202206050003), and the Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Center for Hydrogen Energy and Fuel Cells, China.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
1
Wang H, Wu Y, Feng M. . Visible-light-driven removal of tetracycline antibiotics and reclamation of hydrogen energy from natural water matrices and wastewater by polymeric carbon nitride foam. Water Research, 2018, 144: 215–225

DOI

2
Sprick R S, Chen Z, Cowan A J. . Water oxidation with cobalt-loaded linear conjugated polymer photocatalysts. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2020, 59(42): 18695–18700

DOI

3
Xu Y, Mao N, Zhang C. . Rational design of donor-π-acceptor conjugated microporous polymers for photocatalytic hydrogen production. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2018, 228: 1–9

DOI

4
Wang H, Qian C, Liu J. . Integrating suitable linkage of covalent organic frameworks into covalently bridged inorganic/organic hybrids toward efficient photocatalysis. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2020, 142(10): 4862–4871

DOI

5
Xie X, Du L, Yan L. . Oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline environment: Material challenges and solutions. Advanced Functional Materials, 2022, 32(21): 2110036

DOI

6
Du L, Xing L, Zhang G. . Strategies for engineering high-performance PGM-free catalysts toward oxygen reduction and evolution reactions. Small Methods, 2020, 4(6): 2000016

DOI

7
Wei Z X, Zhu Y T, Liu J Y. . Recent advance in single-atom catalysis. Rare Metals, 2021, 40(4): 767–789

DOI

8
Yuan F H, Mohammadi M R, Ma L L. . Electrodeposition of self-supported NiMo amorphous coating as an efficient and stable catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction. Rare Metals, 2022, 41(8): 2624–2632

DOI

9
Zou X, Zhang Y. Noble metal-free hydrogen evolution catalysts for water splitting. Chemical Society Reviews, 2015, 44(15): 5148–5180

DOI

10
Liang T, Wang A, Ma D. . Low-dimensional transition metal sulfide-based electrocatalysts for water electrolysis: Overview and perspectives. Nanoscale, 2022, 14(48): 17841–17861

DOI

11
Hinnemann B, Moses P G, Bonde J. . Biomimetic hydrogen evolution: MoS2 nanoparticles as catalyst for hydrogen evolution. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2005, 127(15): 5308–5309

DOI

12
Jaramillo T F, Jørgensen K P, Bonde J. . Identification of active edge sites for electrochemical H2 evolution from MoS2 nanocatalysts. Science, 2007, 317(5834): 100–102

DOI

13
Wang Q, Lei Y, Wang Y. . Atomic-scale engineering of chemical-vapor-deposition-grown 2D transition metal dichalcogenides for electrocatalysis. Energy & Environmental Science, 2020, 13(6): 1593–1616

DOI

14
Chhowalla M, Shin H S, Eda G. . The chemistry of two-dimensional layered transition metal dichalcogenide nanosheets. Nature Chemistry, 2013, 5(4): 263–275

DOI

15
Chen J, Walker W R, Xu L. . Intrinsic capacitance of molybdenum disulfide. ACS Nano, 2020, 14(5): 5636–5648

DOI

16
Huang X, Zeng Z, Zhang H. Metal dichalcogenide nanosheets: Preparation, properties and applications. Chemical Society Reviews, 2013, 42(5): 1934–1946

DOI

17
Lei Z, Zhan J, Tang L. . Recent development of metallic (1T) phase of molybdenum disulfide for energy conversion and storage. Advanced Energy Materials, 2018, 8(19): 1703482

DOI

18
Zhang J, Wang T, Liu P. . Engineering water dissociation sites in MoS2 nanosheets for accelerated electrocatalytic hydrogen production. Energy & Environmental Science, 2016, 9(9): 2789–2793

DOI

19
Martis J, Susarla S, Rayabharam A. . Imaging the electron charge density in monolayer MoS2 at the Ångstrom scale. Nature Communications, 2023, 14(1): 4363

DOI

20
Voiry D, Mohite A, Chhowalla M. Phase engineering of transition metal dichalcogenides. Chemical Society Reviews, 2015, 44(9): 2702–2712

DOI

21
Li S, Sun J, Guan J. Strategies to improve electrocatalytic and photocatalytic performance of two-dimensional materials for hydrogen evolution reaction. Chinese Journal of Catalysis, 2021, 42(4): 511–556

DOI

22
Zhao W, Pan J, Fang Y. . Metastable MoS2: Crystal structure, electronic band structure, synthetic approach and intriguing physical properties. Chemistry—A European Journal, 2018, 24(60): 15942–15954

DOI

23
Lin Y C, Dumcenco D O, Huang Y S. . Atomic mechanism of the semiconducting-to-metallic phase transition in single-layered MoS2. Nature Nanotechnology, 2014, 9(5): 391–396

DOI

24
Liu Z, Wang K, Li Y. . Activation engineering on metallic 1T-MoS2 by constructing in-plane heterostructure for efficient hydrogen generation. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2022, 300: 120696

DOI

25
Wang D, Li J, Ma H. . Layer-structure adjustable MoS2 catalysts for the slurry-phase hydrogenation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Journal of Energy Chemistry, 2021, 63: 294–304

DOI

26
Liu B, Xu W, Long X. . Atomic mechanism of lithium intercalation induced phase transition in layered MoS2. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2022, 24(31): 18777–18782

DOI

27
Tan C, Luo Z, Chaturvedi A. . Preparation of high-percentage 1T-phase transition metal dichalcogenide nanodots for electrochemical hydrogen evolution. Advanced Materials, 2018, 30(9): 1705509

DOI

28
Chen Z, Leng K, Zhao X. . Interface confined hydrogen evolution reaction in zero valent metal nanoparticles-intercalated molybdenum disulfide. Nature Communications, 2017, 8(1): 14548

DOI

29
Dong L, Yang J, Yue X. . The effects of the fluence of electron irradiation on the structure and hydrogen evolution reaction performance of molybdenum disulfide. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 2022, 10(20): 7839–7848

DOI

30
Zhu J, Wang Z, Yu H. . Argon plasma induced phase transition in monolayer MoS2. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2017, 139(30): 10216–10219

DOI

31
Sun Y, Zang Y, Tian W. . Plasma-induced large-area N, Pt-doping and phase engineering of MoS2 nanosheets for alkaline hydrogen evolution. Energy & Environmental Science, 2022, 15(3): 1201–1210

DOI

32
Mai H D, Jeong S, Bae G N. . Solvothermal temperature-control of active 1T phase in carbon cloth-supported MoS2 and Pt-Ni cluster electrodeposition for hydrogen evolution reaction. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 2023, 942: 169035

DOI

33
Zhu L, Wang Z, Li C. . Highly stable 1T-MoS2 by magneto-hydrothermal synthesis with Ru modification for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction. Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, 2022, 10(39): 21013–21020

DOI

34
Zhang H, Xu H, Wang L. . A metal-organic frameworks derived 1T-MoS2 with expanded layer spacing for enhanced electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Small, 2023, 19(4): 2205736

DOI

35
Jiang Y, Li X, Yu S. . Reduced graphene oxide-modified carbon nanotube/polyimide film supported MoS2 nanoparticles for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Advanced Functional Materials, 2015, 25(18): 2693–2700

DOI

36
Yi J D, Liu T T, Huang Y B. . Solid-state synthesis of MoS2 nanorod from molybdenum-organic framework for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction. Science China Materials, 2019, 62(7): 965–972

DOI

37
Behranginia A, Asadi M, Liu C. . Highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction using crystalline layered three-dimensional molybdenum disulfides grown on graphene film. Chemistry of Materials, 2016, 28(2): 549–555

DOI

38
Li M, Wang D, Li J. . Surfactant-assisted hydrothermally synthesized MoS2 samples with controllable morphologies and structures for anthracene hydrogenation. Chinese Journal of Catalysis, 2017, 38(3): 597–606

DOI

39
Bhimanapati G R, Hankins T, Lei Y. . Growth and tunable surface wettability of vertical MoS2 layers for improved hydrogen evolution reactions. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2016, 8(34): 22190–22195

DOI

40
Van Nguyen T, Nguyen T P, Van Le Q. . Synthesis of very small molybdenum disulfide nanoflowers for hydrogen evolution reaction. Applied Surface Science, 2023, 607: 154979

DOI

41
Kibsgaard J, Chen Z, Reinecke B N. . Engineering the surface structure of MoS2 to preferentially expose active edge sites for electrocatalysis. Nature Materials, 2012, 11(11): 963–969

DOI

42
Deng J, Li H, Wang S. . Multiscale structural and electronic control of molybdenum disulfide foam for highly efficient hydrogen production. Nature Communications, 2017, 8(1): 14430

DOI

43
Huang H, Chen L, Liu C. . Hierarchically nanostructured MoS2 with rich in-plane edges as a high-performance electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, 2016, 4(38): 14577–14585

DOI

44
Ren X, Pang L, Zhang Y. . One-step hydrothermal synthesis of monolayer MoS2 quantum dots for highly efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, 2015, 3(20): 10693–10697

DOI

45
Vikraman D, Akbar K, Hussain S. . Direct synthesis of thickness-tunable MoS2 quantum dot thin layers: Optical, structural and electrical properties and their application to hydrogen evolution. Nano Energy, 2017, 35: 101–114

DOI

46
Trainer D J, Nieminen J, Bobba F. . Visualization of defect induced in-gap states in monolayer MoS2. npj 2D Materials and Applications, 2022, 6(1): 13

DOI

47
Su H, Pan X, Li S. . Defect-engineered two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides towards electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction. Carbon Energy, 2023, 5(6): e296

DOI

48
Lau T H, Lu X, Kulhavý J. . Transition metal atom doping of the basal plane of MoS2 monolayer nanosheets for electrochemical hydrogen evolution. Chemical Science, 2018, 9(21): 4769–4776

DOI

49
Li H, Tsai C, Koh A L. . Activating and optimizing MoS2 basal planes for hydrogen evolution through the formation of strained sulphur vacancies. Nature Materials, 2016, 15(1): 48–53

DOI

50
Ma Y, Leng D, Zhang X. . Enhanced activities in alkaline hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions on MoS2 electrocatalysts by in-plane sulfur defects coupled with transition metal doping. Small, 2022, 18(39): 2203173

DOI

51
Xu J, Shao G, Tang X. . Frenkel-defected monolayer MoS2 catalysts for efficient hydrogen evolution. Nature Communications, 2022, 13(1): 2193

DOI

52
Cheng C C, Lu A Y, Tseng C C. . Activating basal-plane catalytic activity of two-dimensional MoS2 monolayer with remote hydrogen plasma. Nano Energy, 2016, 30: 846–852

DOI

53
Tsai C, Li H, Park S. . Electrochemical generation of sulfur vacancies in the basal plane of MoS2 for hydrogen evolution. Nature Communications, 2017, 8(1): 15113

DOI

54
Meng C, Lin M C, Du X W. . Molybdenum disulfide modified by laser irradiation for catalyzing hydrogen evolution. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2019, 7(7): 6999–7003

DOI

55
Lv D, Wang H, Zhu D. . Atomic process of oxidative etching in monolayer molybdenum disulfide. Science Bulletin, 2017, 62(12): 846–851

DOI

56
Xie J, Zhang H, Li S. . Defect-rich MoS2 ultrathin nanosheets with additional active edge sites for enhanced electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Advanced Materials, 2013, 25(40): 5807–5813

DOI

57
Chen J, Lin Y, Wang H. . 2D molybdenum compounds for electrocatalytic energy conversion. Advanced Functional Materials, 2023, 33(4): 2210236

DOI

58
Yang C L, Wang L N, Yin P. . Sulfur-anchoring synthesis of platinum intermetallic nanoparticle catalysts for fuel cells. Science, 2021, 374(6566): 459–464

DOI

59
Chen I W P, Chen Y X, Wu C W. . Large-scale fabrication of a flexible, highly conductive composite paper based on molybdenum disulfide-Pt nanoparticle-single-walled carbon nanotubes for efficient hydrogen production. Chemical Communications, 2017, 53(2): 380–383

DOI

60
Shan A, Teng X, Zhang Y. . Interfacial electronic structure modulation of Pt-MoS2 heterostructure for enhancing electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction. Nano Energy, 2022, 94: 106913

DOI

61
Jiang K, Luo M, Liu Z. . Rational strain engineering of single-atom ruthenium on nanoporous MoS2 for highly efficient hydrogen evolution. Nature Communications, 2021, 12(1): 1687

DOI

62
Luo Z, Ouyang Y, Zhang H. . Chemically activating MoS2 via spontaneous atomic palladium interfacial doping towards efficient hydrogen evolution. Nature Communications, 2018, 9(1): 2120

DOI

63
Shi Y, Zhou Y, Yang D R. . Energy level engineering of MoS2 by transition-metal doping for accelerating hydrogen evolution reaction. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2017, 139(43): 15479–15485

DOI

64
Li M, Cai B, Tian R. . Vanadium doped 1T MoS2 nanosheets for highly efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution in both acidic and alkaline solutions. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2021, 409: 128158

DOI

65
Xie J, Zhang J, Li S. . Controllable disorder engineering in oxygen-incorporated MoS2 ultrathin nanosheets for efficient hydrogen evolution. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2013, 135(47): 17881–17888

DOI

66
Yang X, Li X, Wang Y. . Efficient etching of oxygen-incorporated molybdenum disulfide nanosheet arrays for excellent electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Applied Surface Science, 2019, 491: 245–255

DOI

67
Chen H X, Xu H, Song Z R. . Pressure-induced bimetallic carbon nanotubes from metal-organic frameworks as optimized bifunctional electrocatalysts for water splitting. Rare Metals, 2023, 42(1): 155–164

DOI

68
Zhang X, Zhou F, Zhang S. . Engineering MoS2 basal planes for hydrogen evolution via synergistic ruthenium doping and nanocarbon hybridization. Advanced Science, 2019, 6(10): 1900090

DOI

69
Wang H, Tsai C, Kong D. . Transition-metal doped edge sites in vertically aligned MoS2 catalysts for enhanced hydrogen evolution. Nano Research, 2015, 8(2): 566–575

DOI

70
Nguyen D C, Luyen Doan T L, Prabhakaran S. . Hierarchical Co and Nb dual-doped MoS2 nanosheets shelled micro-TiO2 hollow spheres as effective multifunctional electrocatalysts for HER, OER, and ORR. Nano Energy, 2021, 82: 105750

DOI

71
Pei J, Geng H, Ang E H. . Controlled synthesis of hollow C@TiO2@MoS2 hierarchical nanospheres for high-performance lithium-ion batteries. Nanoscale, 2018, 10(36): 17327–17334

DOI

72
Shah S A, Shen X, Xie M. . Nickel@nitrogen-doped carbon@MoS2 nanosheets: An efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction. Small, 2019, 15(9): 1804545

DOI

73
Wang H, Xiao X, Liu S. . Structural and electronic optimization of MoS2 edges for hydrogen evolution. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2019, 141(46): 18578–18584

DOI

74
Yu H, Shang L, Bian T. . Nitrogen-doped porous carbon nanosheets templated from g-C3N4 as metal-free electrocatalysts for efficient oxygen reduction reaction. Advanced Materials, 2016, 28(25): 5080–5086

DOI

75
Su J, Yang Y, Xia G. . Ruthenium-cobalt nanoalloys encapsulated in nitrogen-doped graphene as active electrocatalysts for producing hydrogen in alkaline media. Nature Communications, 2017, 8(1): 14969

DOI

76
Li Y, Wang H, Xie L. . MoS2 nanoparticles grown on graphene: an advanced catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2011, 133(19): 7296–7299

DOI

77
Liu H J, Zhang S, Chai Y M. . Ligand modulation of active sites to promote Co doped 1T-MoS2 electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution in alkaline media. Angewandte Chemie, 2023, 62(48): e202313845

DOI

78
Han W, Ning J, Long Y. . Unlocking the ultrahigh-current-density hydrogen evolution on 2H-MoS2 via simultaneous structural control across seven orders of magnitude. Advanced Energy Materials, 2023, 13(16): 2300145

DOI

79
Gao B, Zhao Y, Du X. . Modulating trinary-heterostructure of MoS2 via controllably carbon doping for enhanced electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction. Advanced Functional Materials, 2023, 33(22): 2214085

DOI

80
Guo X, Song E, Zhao W. . Charge self-regulation in 1T-MoS2 structure with rich S vacancies for enhanced hydrogen evolution activity. Nature Communications, 2022, 13(1): 5954

DOI

81
Hu B, Huang K, Tang B. . Graphene quantum dot-mediated atom-layer semiconductor electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution. Nano-Micro Letters, 2023, 15(1): 217

DOI

82
Shi Z, Zhang X, Lin X. . Phase-dependent growth of Pt on MoS2 for highly efficient H2 evolution. Nature, 2023, 621(7978): 300–305

DOI

Outlines

/