Sheet-Isolated MoS₂ Used for Dispersing Pt Nanoparticles and its Application in Methanol Fuel Cells

It is highly challenging to activate the basal plane and minimize the pi-pi stacking of MoS2 sheets, thus enhancing its catalytic performance. Here, we display an approach for making well-dispersed MoS2. By using the N-doped multi-walled carbon nanotubes (NMWCNTs) as an isolation unit, the aggregation of MoS2 sheets was effectively reduced, favoring the dispersion of Pt nanoparticles (noted as Pt/NMWCNTs-isolated-MoS2). Excellent bifunctional catalytic performance for methanol oxidation and oxygen reduction reaction (MOR/ORR) were demonstrated by the produced Pt/NMWCNTs-isolated-MoS2. In comparison to Pt nanoparticles supported on MoS2 (Pt/MoS2), the MOR activity (2314.14 mA mg(pt)(-1)) and stability (317.69 mA mg(pt)(-1) after 2 h of operation) on Pt/NMWCNTs-isolatedMoS(2) were 24 and 232 times higher, respectively. As for ORR, Pt/NMWCNTs-isolated-MoS2 holds large half-wave potential (0.88 V) and high stability (92.71 % after 22 h of operation). This work presents a tactic for activating the basal planes and reducing the pi-pi stacking of 2D materials to satisfy their applications in electrocatalysis. In addition, the proposed sheet-isolation method can be used for fabricating other 2D materials to promote the dispersion of nanoparticles, which assist its application in other fields of energy as well as the environment.