In-situ visualization of hydrogen evolution sites on helium ion treated molybdenum dichalcogenides under reaction conditions

Nanostructured 2D transition metal dichalcogenides play an increasingly important role in heterogeneous catalysis. These materials are abundant (co-)catalysts with tunable properties to catalyze a number of key reactions related to energy provision, for instance the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). It is vital to understand which surface sites are active in order to maximize their number and to improve the overall (photo-)catalytic behavior of those materials. Here, we visualize these active sites under HER conditions at the surface of molybdenum dichalcogenides (MoX₂, X = Se, S) with lateral resolution on the nanometer scale by means of electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy. The edges of single MoX₂ flakes show high catalytic activity, whereas their terraces are inactive. We demonstrate how the inert basal planes of these materials can be activated towards the HER with the help of a focused beam of a He-ion microscope. Our findings demonstrate that the He-ion induced defects contribute at lower overpotentials to the HER, while the activity of the edges exceeds the activity of the basal defects for sufficiently high overpotentials. Given the lithographic resolution of the helium ion microscope, our results show the possibility to generate active sites in transition metal dichalcogenides with a spatial resolution below a few nanometers.