Plasmonic imaging of the layer-dependent electrocatalytic activity of two-dimensional catalysts

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 7869
• Main Authors: Zhao, Xiaona, Zhou, Xiao-Li, Yang, Si-Yu, Min, Yuan, Chen, Jie-Jie, Liu, Xian-Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 22.12.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/133; 147/3; 639/624/1107/510; 639/638/11/942; 639/638/77/886; 639/638/77/887; Catalysts; Charge density; Electrocatalysts; Humanities and Social Sciences; Imaging techniques; Molybdenum disulfide; multidisciplinary; Nanostructure; Oxidation; Plasmonics; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Surface charge; Transition metal compounds; Two dimensional materials
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35633-3

Studying the localized electrocatalytic activity of heterogeneous electrocatalysts is crucial for understanding electrocatalytic reactions and further improving their performance. However, correlating the electrocatalytic activity with the microscopic structure of two-dimensional (2D) electrocatalysts remains a great challenge due to the lack of in situ imaging techniques and methods of tuning structures with atomic precision. Here, we present a general method of probing the layer-dependent electrocatalytic activity of 2D materials in situ using a plasmonic imaging technique. Unlike the existing methods, this approach was used to visualize the surface charge density and electrocatalytic activity of single 2D MoS 2 nanosheets, enabling the correlation of layer-dependent electrocatalytic activity with the surface charge density of single MoS 2 nanosheets. This work provides insights into the electrocatalytic mechanisms of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides, and our approach can serve as a promising platform for investigating electrocatalytic reactions at the heterogeneous interface, thus guiding the rational design of high-performance electrocatalysts. Probing the localized electrocatalytic activity of heterogeneous electrocatalysts is crucial. Here, the authors propose a method of imaging the surface charge density and electrocatalytic activity of single two-dimensional electrocatalyst nanosheets.