文摘
Molybdenum disulfide (MoS<sub>2sub>) has been widely examined as a catalyst containing no precious metals for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER); however, these examinations have utilized synthesized MoS<sub>2sub> because the pristine MoS<sub>2sub> mineral is known to be a poor catalyst. The fundamental challenge with pristine MoS<sub>2sub> is the inert HER activity of the predominant (0001) basal surface plane. In order to achieve high HER performance with pristine MoS<sub>2sub>, it is essential to activate the basal plane. Here, we report a general thermal process in which the basal plane is texturized to increase the density of HER-active edge sites. This texturization is achieved through a simple thermal annealing procedure in a hydrogen environment, removing sulfur from the MoS<sub>2sub> surface to form edge sites. As a result, the process generates high HER catalytic performance in pristine MoS<sub>2sub> across various morphologies such as the bulk mineral, films composed of micron-scale flakes, and even films of a commercially available spray of nanoflake MoS<sub>2sub>. The lowest overpotential (η) observed for these samples was η = 170 mV to obtain 10 mA/cm<sup>2sup> of HER current density.