Ammonium ions intercalated 1T/2H-MoS2 with increased interlayer spacing for high-efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction

As an effective catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the catalytic performance of MoS2 is largely depends on its conductivity and active sites. Herein, we design and prepare a 1T/2H-MoS2 material with increased interlayer spacing for accelerating HER catalytic activity. The increased interlayer spacing can expose more active sites and also endow large channels for ion transport. Meanwhile, the effective combination of conductive 1T and 2H phase MoS2, and the presence of phase boundaries further improve the catalytic activity. Accordingly, the prepared catalyst delivers superior HER performance of a low overpotential (159.9 mV@10 mA cm−2) and a low Tafel slope (55.5 mV dec-1). Furthermore, it also exhibits a remarkable electrochemical stability under acidic condition. This work may provide a reasonable strategy for the preparation of highly active MoS2 based catalysts with increased interlayer spacing.