Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Akhound, Mohammad Amin, Jacobsen, Karsten Wedel, Thygesen, Kristian Sommer
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.06876
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866913683729285120
author Akhound, Mohammad Amin
Jacobsen, Karsten Wedel
Thygesen, Kristian Sommer
author_facet Akhound, Mohammad Amin
Jacobsen, Karsten Wedel
Thygesen, Kristian Sommer
contents Two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) in the 2H or 1T crystal phases, are promising (electro)catalyst candidates due to their high surface to volume ratio and composition of low-cost, abundant elements. While the edges of elemental TMDC nanoparticles, such as MoS$_2$, can show significant catalytic activity, the basal plane of the pristine materials are notoriously inert, which limits their normalized activity. Here we show that high densities of catalytically active sites can be formed on the TMDC basal plane by alloying elements that prefer the 2H (1T) phase into a 1T (2H) structure. The global stability of the alloy, in particular whether it crystallizes in the 2H or 1T phase, can be controlled by ensuring a majority of elements preferring the target phase. We further show that the mixing entropy plays a decisive role for stabilizing the alloy implying that high-entropy alloying becomes essential. Our calculations point to a number of interesting non-precious hydrogen evolution catalysts, including (CrHfTaVZr)S$_2$ and (CrNbTiVZr)S$_2$ in the T-phase and (MoNbTaVTi)S$_2$ in the H-phase. Our work opens new directions for designing catalytic sites via high-entropy alloy stabilization of locally unstable structures.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_06876
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Activating the Basal Plane of 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenides via High-Entropy Alloying
Akhound, Mohammad Amin
Jacobsen, Karsten Wedel
Thygesen, Kristian Sommer
Materials Science
Computational Physics
Two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) in the 2H or 1T crystal phases, are promising (electro)catalyst candidates due to their high surface to volume ratio and composition of low-cost, abundant elements. While the edges of elemental TMDC nanoparticles, such as MoS$_2$, can show significant catalytic activity, the basal plane of the pristine materials are notoriously inert, which limits their normalized activity. Here we show that high densities of catalytically active sites can be formed on the TMDC basal plane by alloying elements that prefer the 2H (1T) phase into a 1T (2H) structure. The global stability of the alloy, in particular whether it crystallizes in the 2H or 1T phase, can be controlled by ensuring a majority of elements preferring the target phase. We further show that the mixing entropy plays a decisive role for stabilizing the alloy implying that high-entropy alloying becomes essential. Our calculations point to a number of interesting non-precious hydrogen evolution catalysts, including (CrHfTaVZr)S$_2$ and (CrNbTiVZr)S$_2$ in the T-phase and (MoNbTaVTi)S$_2$ in the H-phase. Our work opens new directions for designing catalytic sites via high-entropy alloy stabilization of locally unstable structures.
title Activating the Basal Plane of 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenides via High-Entropy Alloying
topic Materials Science
Computational Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.06876