The research results have been published in the journal Nanoscale (Q1, IF: 5.8). The work was supported by a grant of the Russian Science Foundation (No. 23-42-00081).
Currently, molybdenum disulfide is a promising catalyst for the production of "green" hydrogen. The natural mineral molybdenum is widespread, also on the territory of Russia; it is low cost and stable. This makes the material a promising alternative to expensive platinum.
"Existing methods used to increase the catalytic activity of molybdenum disulfide have certain disadvantages — high temperature and pressure for synthesis, the use of aggressive chemicals, and high cost. Therefore, as scientists, we faced the task of finding an inexpensive, "green" and simple method to synthesize a highly defective hybrid structure based on thin layers of molybdenum disulfide," says Raul Rodriguez, joint author of the study and professor at the TPU Research School of Chemical and Biomedical Technologies.
TPU chemists, together with their foreign colleagues, have developed a method in which the desired material can be obtained using a solution of iron ions and a visible light source that can be replaced by sunlight.
Compared to conventional molybdenum, the modified catalyst makes it possible to produce the same amount of hydrogen from water, using 20% less energy. According to the scientists, the gained fundamental knowledge can form the basis to create safe and inexpensive systems for the production of "green" hydrogen for automobile fuel.
"Moreover, we have developed a method to locally reduce the thickness of molybdenum disulfide, create defects and deposit magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in predefined locations, which is extremely important in the future when creating various devices," explains Chan Tuan Hoang, one of the authors of the study, engineer at the TPU Research School of Chemical and Biomedical Technologies.
Currently, scientists are evaluating the prospects of modified molybdenum disulfide to be used in sensors, technical optics and opto-electronics.
Specialists of the TPU Research School of Chemical and Biomedical Technologies, the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering and the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, took part in the study.