Designed bifunctional flower-like structural molybdenum disulfide doped with Ag atoms for clean energy and contaminant detection

An efficient bifunctional material still remains a stupendous challenge for the use of Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts and suffer from cost issues. In this study, heteroatom Ag doping instead of Ag compound MoS2 has been used to activate the inert plane of MoS2 and improve charge transfer, modulating the SERS and HER properties of MoS2. As SERS substrate, Ag doped MoS2 can be widely used for the rapid detection of organic dyes (MG, CV, R6G), pesticides (endosulfan and dipterex), and endocrine disrupter Bisphenol A and biological macromolecules bilirubin. Meanwhile, the HER activity of the MoS2 is remarkably boosted by introducing Ag atoms. The low overpotentials of pure MoS2 is 524 mV, while the low overpotentials of the Ag doped MoS2 can be reach 54 mV in alkaline electrolytes. Tafel slope, electrochemically active surface area (ECSA), Turnover frequency (TOF) and the normalized ECSA were analyzed to reveal the real reason for the increasing in electrocatalytic activity. As-synthesized Ag doped MoS2 shows highly efficient hydrogen evolution. This work synthesized low-cost bifunctional materials Ag doped MoS2 not only provides a guidance for MoS2-base SERS substrate design but also facilitates cope with the growing demand for clean energy.