Strong interactions in molybdenum disulfide heterostructures boosting the catalytic performance of water splitting: A short review

Two-dimensional materials (2DMs) have attracted substantial attention due to their abundant active sites and their ultrahigh surface area for different catalytic applications due to the high lateral-longitudinal ratio. Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), especially MoS₂, as one of the 2DMs most often studied, have shown superior activity in electrochemical applications. Recently, combinations of different 2DMs have been widely studied, and they appear to be the most promising strategy available to develop state of the art catalysts for different reactions.

In this article, we review the interactions between MoS₂ and other materials as well as the novel assembly induced phase transitions of TMDs and their underlying mechanisms. Several methods for inducing the phase transition of TMDs by building MoS₂-based heterostructures have been introduced. The electronic coupling between these counterparts has significantly enhanced their conductivity and optimized the energy states of the materials, thus introducing enhanced activity as compared to their original counterparts. The ideas summarized in this article may shed new light on and help to develop next-generation green energy materials by designing and constructing highly active two-dimensional catalysts for efficient water splitting.