Wafer-Scale Sulfur Vacancy-Rich Monolayer MoS2 for Massive Hydrogen Production.

As one of the promising low-cost and high-efficiency catalysts for the electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), it is well-known that there are both tiny exposed catalytic active edge sites and large-area inert basal planes in two-dimensional MoS2 structures. For enhancing its HER activity, extensive work has been done to activate the inert basal plane of MoS2. In this article, wafer-scale (2 in.) continuous monolayer MoS2 films with substantial in situ generated sulfur vacancies are fabricated by employing the laser molecular beam epitaxy process benefitting from ultrahigh vacuum growth condition and high substrate temperature. The intrinsic sulfur vacancies throughout the wafer-scale basal plane present an ideal electrocatalytic platform for massive hydrogen production. The fabricated vacancy-rich monolayer MoS2 can achieve a current density of -10 mA/cm2 at an overpotential of -256 mV. The wafer-scale fabrications of sulfur vacancy-rich monolayer MoS2 provide great leaps forward in the practical application of MoS2 for massive hydrogen production.