Toward sustainable and effective HER electrocatalysts: Strategies for the basal plane site activation of transition metal dichalcogenides

Due to their low cost and overall sustainability, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are potential alternatives to noble metals as catalysts to produce green hydrogen. A promising route to improve their performances consists of activating their basal plane, both increasing the number of active sites or their specific activity. This can be accomplished by exploiting point defects, in-plane boundaries and strain. In particular, single atom adsorbed or incorporated into TMDCs have shown remarkable results in electrochemical half-cell tests. Topological curvature or grain boundaries (and related defects) can also be used to further boost the performances. A crucial point for the application of such strategies is related to the development of cost effective and sustainable methods for the scale-up of synthetic protocols.