TY - JOUR
T1 - Growth and Tunable Surface Wettability of Vertical MoS2 Layers for Improved Hydrogen Evolution Reactions
AU - Bhimanapati, Ganesh R.
AU - Hankins, Trevor
AU - Lei, Yu
AU - Vilá, Rafael A.
AU - Fuller, Ian
AU - Terrones, Mauricio
AU - Robinson, Joshua A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2016/8/31
Y1 - 2016/8/31
N2 - Layered materials, especially the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), are of interest for a broad range of applications. Among the class of TMDs, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is perhaps the most studied because of its natural abundance and use in optoelectronics, energy storage and energy conversion applications. Understanding the fundamental structure-property relations is key for tailoring the enhancement in the above-mentioned applications. Here, we report a controlled powder vaporization synthesis of MoS2 flower-like structures consisting of vertically grown layers of MoS2 exhibiting exposed edges. This growth is readily achievable on multiple substrates, such as graphite, silicon, and silicon dioxide. The resulting MoS2 flowers are highly crystalline and stoichiometric. Further observations using contact angle indicate that MoS2 flowers exhibit the highest reported contact angle of ∼160 ± 10°, making the material super hydrophobic. This surface wettability was further tuned by changing the edge chemistry of the MoS2 flowers using an ozone etching treatment. Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) measurements indicate that the surface treated with UV-ozone showed a reduction in the Tafel slope from 185 to 54 mV/dec, suggesting an increase in the amount of reactive surface to generate hydrogen.
AB - Layered materials, especially the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), are of interest for a broad range of applications. Among the class of TMDs, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is perhaps the most studied because of its natural abundance and use in optoelectronics, energy storage and energy conversion applications. Understanding the fundamental structure-property relations is key for tailoring the enhancement in the above-mentioned applications. Here, we report a controlled powder vaporization synthesis of MoS2 flower-like structures consisting of vertically grown layers of MoS2 exhibiting exposed edges. This growth is readily achievable on multiple substrates, such as graphite, silicon, and silicon dioxide. The resulting MoS2 flowers are highly crystalline and stoichiometric. Further observations using contact angle indicate that MoS2 flowers exhibit the highest reported contact angle of ∼160 ± 10°, making the material super hydrophobic. This surface wettability was further tuned by changing the edge chemistry of the MoS2 flowers using an ozone etching treatment. Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) measurements indicate that the surface treated with UV-ozone showed a reduction in the Tafel slope from 185 to 54 mV/dec, suggesting an increase in the amount of reactive surface to generate hydrogen.
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U2 - 10.1021/acsami.6b05848
DO - 10.1021/acsami.6b05848
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84985894827
SN - 1944-8244
VL - 8
SP - 22190
EP - 22195
JO - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
JF - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
IS - 34
ER -