Electrodeposition of amorphous molybdenum sulfo-selenide as a low-cost catalyst

TL;DR

This paper presents a scalable electrodeposition method to synthesize amorphous molybdenum sulfo-selenide catalysts, demonstrating enhanced catalytic activity for electrochemical processes due to structural and compositional tuning.

Contribution

It introduces a low-cost, scalable electrodeposition technique for Se-incorporated amorphous MoSx catalysts and explores how electrolyte conditions influence their properties and performance.

Findings

Selenium incorporation improves catalytic activity.

Electrolyte conditions significantly affect film properties.

Selenium enhances electronic conductivity and active site density.

Abstract

Overall, the MoSx system has shown greater catalytic activity over the traditional MoS2 based systems due to the absence of discrete basal plane, and differing structural arrangements. This increases the overall catalytic site density alongside adequate electronic conductivity from short-range atomic arrangements that allow for use in electrochemical processes. Here we translate prior efforts to improve electrocatalysis via Se incorporation within the crystalline system to the polymeric system, as several of the active sites in the a-MoSx have similar motifs and bonding environments as those found in MoS2. We use a single-electrolyte electrodeposition synthesis technique in order to provide a scalable, low-cost material. We demonstrate the influence of the electrolyte conditions on the films physical, chemical, electronic, and catalytic properties as a function of selenium content through a comprehensive study via Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and electrochemical methods. Together, these results highlight selenium's role in the Se-MoSx system in promoting the catalytic efficacy of these catalysts.