Ru-Doped Induced Phase Engineering of MoS2 for Boosting Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution.

Abstract

Electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) holds great potential as a sustainable strategy for green hydrogen production. However, it still faces significant challenges due to the lack of highly efficient electrocatalysts. Herein, a synergistic approach by incorporating Ru atoms into MoS₂ nanosheets to optimize the structure and conductivity has been proposed, which could improve the HER performance of MoS₂ under alkaline conditions. Combining theoretical calculations and structural characterizations, it is demonstrated that the Ru atom introduction leads to the localized distortions of MoS₂, generating additional active sites for H* adsorption, and reduces the free energy to adsorb and desorb hydrogen. Furthermore, the Ru introduction makes partial transformation from the 2H phase to the 1T phase in MoS₂, which results in the change of the electronic structure and further enhances the electrical conductivity. As a result, the Ru-doped MoS₂ electrocatalysts exhibit the high HER activities with the low overpotentials of 61 mV and 79 mV at 10 mA cm^-2 in 1.0 M KOH and alkaline seawater, respectively. This work provides a novel design strategy for enhancing HER activity through the synergistic modulation of structural and electronic properties, offering valuable insights for the development of efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution.