Allotrope-dependent activity-stability relationships of molybdenum sulfide hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts
Escalera-López D, Iffelsberger C, Zlatar M, Novčić K, Maselj N, Van Pham C, Jovanovič P, Hodnik N, Thiele S, Pumera M, Cherevko S (2024)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2024
Journal
Book Volume: 15
Pages Range: 3601-
Journal Issue: 1
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47524-w
Abstract
Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is widely regarded as a competitive hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst to replace platinum in proton exchange membrane water electrolysers (PEMWEs). Despite the extensive knowledge of its HER activity, stability insights under HER operation are scarce. This is paramount to ensure long-term operation of Pt-free PEMWEs, and gain full understanding on the electrocatalytically-induced processes responsible for HER active site generation. The latter are highly dependent on the MoS2 allotropic phase, and still under debate. We rigorously assess these by simultaneously monitoring Mo and S dissolution products using a dedicated scanning flow cell coupled with downstream analytics (ICP-MS), besides an electrochemical mass spectrometry setup for volatile species analysis. We observe that MoS2 stability is allotrope-dependent: lamellar-like MoS2 is highly unstable under open circuit conditions, whereas cluster-like amorphous MoS3-x instability is induced by a severe S loss during the HER and undercoordinated Mo site generation. Guidelines to operate non-noble PEMWEs are therefore provided based on the stability number metrics, and an HER mechanism which accounts for Mo and S dissolution pathways is proposed.
Involved external institutions
Forschungszentrum Jülich / Research Centre Jülich (FZJ)
Germany (DE)
Brno University of Technology (BUT) / Vysoké učení technické v Brně (VUT)
Czech Republic (CZ)
National Institute of Chemistry / Kemijski Inštitut
Slovenia (SI)
Germany (DE)
Brno University of Technology (BUT) / Vysoké učení technické v Brně (VUT)
Czech Republic (CZ)
National Institute of Chemistry / Kemijski Inštitut
Slovenia (SI)
How to cite
APA:
Escalera-López, D., Iffelsberger, C., Zlatar, M., Novčić, K., Maselj, N., Van Pham, C.,... Cherevko, S. (2024). Allotrope-dependent activity-stability relationships of molybdenum sulfide hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts. Nature Communications, 15(1), 3601-. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47524-w
MLA:
Escalera-López, Daniel, et al. "Allotrope-dependent activity-stability relationships of molybdenum sulfide hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts." Nature Communications 15.1 (2024): 3601-.
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