TaS2, TaSe2 and their heterogeneous films as catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction

Metallic two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) of the group-5 metals are emerging as catalysts for efficient the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The HER-activity of the group-5 TMDs originates from the unsaturated chalcogen-edges and the highly active surface basal planes, whereas the HER-activity of the widely studied group-6 TMDs originates solely from the chalcogen- or metal-unsaturated edges. However, the batch production of such nanomaterials and their scalable processing into high-performance electrocatalysts is still challenging. Herein, we report the liquid phase exfoliation of the 2H-TaS2 crystals by using 2-propanol to produce single/few-layer (1H/2H) flakes, which are afterward deposited as catalytic films. A thermal treatment-aided texturization of the catalytic films is used to increase their porosity, promoting the ion access to the basal planes of the flakes, as well as the number of catalytic edges of the flakes. The hybridization of the H-TaS2 flakes and H-TaSe2 flake...