Ru-Doped Induced Phase Engineering of MoS2 for Boosting Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) holds great potential as a sustainable strategy for green hydrogen production. However, it still faces significant challenges due to the lack of highly efficient electrocatalysts. Herein, a synergistic approach by incorporating Ru atoms into MoS2nanosheets to optimize the structure and conductivity has been proposed, which could improve the HER performance of MoS2under alkaline conditions. Combining theoretical calculations and structural characterizations, it is demonstrated that the Ru atom introduction leads to the localized distortions of MoS2, generating additional active sites for H* adsorption, and reduces the free energy to adsorb and desorb hydrogen. Furthermore, the Ru introduction makes partial transformation from the 2H phase to the 1T phase in MoS2, which results in the change of the electronic structure and further enhances the electrical conductivity. As a result, the Ru-doped MoS2electrocatalysts exhibit the high HER activities with the low overpotentials of 61 mV and 79 mV at 10 mA cm−2in 1.0 M KOH and alkaline seawater, respectively. This work provides a novel design strategy for enhancing HER activity through the synergistic modulation of structural and electronic properties, offering valuable insights for the development of efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution.