Continuous synthesis of few-layer MoS₂ with highly electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution

As one of the most promising alternative fuels, hydrogen is expected with high hopes. The electrolysis of water is regarded as the cleanest and most efficient method of hydrogen production. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) is deemed as one of the most promising alternatives HER catalysts owing to its high catalytic activity and low cost. Its continuous production and efficient preparation become the key problems in future industrial production. In this work, we first developed a continuous micro-reaction approach with high heat and mass transfer rates to synthesize few-layer MoS₂ nanoplates with abundant active sites. The defective MoS₂ ultrathin nanoplates exhibit excellent HER performance with an overpotential of 260 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm^-2, small Tafel slope (53.6 mV dec^-1) and prominent durability, which are comparable to most reported MoS₂ based catalysts. Considering the existence of continuous devices, it's suitable for the synthesis of MoS₂ as high-performance electrocatalysts for the industrial water electrolysis. The novel preparation method may open up a new way to synthesize all two-dimension materials toward HER.