Defect-Induced in Situ Atomic Doping in Transition Metal Dichalcogenides via Liquid-Phase Synthesis toward Efficient Electrochemical Activity

Abstract

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), due to their fascinating properties, have emerged as potential next-generation semiconducting nanomaterials across diverse fields of applications. When combined with other material systems, precise control of the intrinsic properties of the TMDs plays a vital role in maximizing their performance. Defect-induced atomic doping through introduction of a chalcogen vacancy into the TMDs lattices is known to be a promising strategy for modulating their characteristic properties. As a result, there is a need to develop tunable and scalable synthesis routes to achieve vacancy-modulated TMDs. Herein, we propose a facile liquid-phase ligand exchange approach for scalable, uniform, and vacancy-tunable synthesis of TMDs films. Varying the relative molar ratio of the chalcogen to transition metal precursors enabled the in situ modulation of the chalcogen vacancy concentrations without necessitating additional post-treatments. When employed as the electrocatalyst in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the vacancy-modulated TMDs, exhibiting a synergetic effect on the energy level matching to the reduction potential of water and optimized free energy differences in the HER pathways, showed a significant enhancement in the hydrogen production via the improved charge transfer kinetics and increased active sites. The proposed approach for synthesizing tunable vacancy-modulated TMDs with wafer-scale synthesis capability is, therefore, promising for better practical applications of TMDs.