Solvothermal temperature-control of active 1T phase in carbon cloth-supported MoS2 and Pt-Ni cluster electrodeposition for hydrogen evolution reaction

Establishing synthetic guidance that enables phase optimization with minimized by-products is an important task in modifying atomic arrangements and electronic structures of MoS2 through a solvothermal approach. Herein, a synthetic strategy to manipulate the 1 T and 2 H phases within MoS2 nanosheets on a support carbon cloth (MoS2/CC) is successfully demonstrated via a facile and efficient temperature-controlled solvothermal method. The 1 T and 2 H in MoS2/CC are well-characterized and quantified using Raman and XPS, revealing that MoS2/CC synthesized at 220 ºC (denoted as MoS2/CC(220)) has the highest 1 T phase content (∼ 60 %). The distinctive atomic arrangement of 1 T and 2 H are distinguished by HR-TEM. We also successfully electrodeposited Pt-Ni nanoclusters on the 1 T-rich MoS2 (Pt-Ni@MoS2/CC), which accounts for a substantially enhanced HER performance. This study highlights the capability of phase manipulation in two-dimensional MoS2 nanosheets via a one-pot solvothermal approach, which is essential for application-specified phase engineering.