Premium
On the Synthesis of Morphology‐Controlled Transition Metal Dichalcogenides via Chemical Vapor Deposition for Electrochemical Hydrogen Generation
Author(s) -
Sharma Rahul,
Sahoo Krishna Rani,
Rastogi Pankaj Kumar,
Biroju Ravi K.,
Theis Wolfgang,
Narayanan Tharangattu N.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
physica status solidi (rrl) – rapid research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.786
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1862-6270
pISSN - 1862-6254
DOI - 10.1002/pssr.201900257
Subject(s) - overpotential , chemical vapor deposition , materials science , transition metal , nanotechnology , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , raman spectroscopy , photoluminescence , electrochemistry , ternary operation , catalysis , chemical engineering , chemistry , optoelectronics , electrode , optics , biochemistry , physics , engineering , computer science , programming language
Shape‐engineered atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) crystals are highly intriguing systems with regard to both fundamental and applied science. Herein, a chemical vapor deposition‐assisted generalized synthesis strategy for the triangular‐ and dendritic‐shaped TMDs and their ternary alloys is proposed, and the TMD structures' potential for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) applications is demonstrated. The alloy formation is confirmed via micro‐Raman and photoluminescence studies and further verified using transmission electron microscopy and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The HER activities of MoS 2 and MoSe 2 triangles are compared with those of their dendritic structures, and an enormous improvement in terms of overpotential and current density is observed for the dendritic structures. A further enhancement of the HER activity is observed in MoS 2(1− x ) Se 2 x triangular and dendritic structures, with dendritic MoS 2(1− x ) Se 2 x providing the best activity. The demonstrated nonequilibrium growth technique opens new avenues for the synthesis of morphology‐controlled, large area, complex, and atomically thin TMD structures, which can have unprecedented properties, such as the enormous catalytic activity, tunable luminescence, etc., as presented in this article.