Dendritic, transferable, strictly monolayer MoS2 flakes synthesized on SrTiO3 single crystals for efficient electrocatalytic applications.

Controllable synthesis of macroscopically uniform, high-quality monolayer MoS2 is crucial for harnessing its great potential in optoelectronics, electrocatalysis, and energy storage. To date, triangular MoS2 single crystals or their polycrystalline aggregates have been synthesized on insulating substrates of SiO2/Si, mica, sapphire, etc., via portable chemical vapor deposition methods. Herein, we report a controllable synthesis of dendritic, strictly monolayer MoS2 flakes possessing tunable degrees of fractal shape on a specific insulator, SrTiO3. Interestingly, the dendritic monolayer MoS2, characterized by abundant edges, can be transferred intact onto Au foil electrodes and serve as ideal electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction, reflected by a rather low Tafel slope of ∼73 mV/decade among CVD-grown two-dimensional MoS2 flakes. In addition, we reveal that centimeter-scale uniform, strictly monolayer MoS2 films consisting of relatively compact domains can also be obtained, offering insights into promising applications such as flexible energy conversion/harvesting and optoelectronics.