Ultraefficient Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution from Strain-Engineered, Multilayer MoS.

This paper reports an approach to repurpose low-cost, bulk multilayer MoS for development of ultraefficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts over large areas (>cm). We create working electrodes for use in HER by dry transfer of MoS nano- and microflakes to gold thin films deposited on prestrained thermoplastic substrates. By relieving the prestrain at a macroscopic scale, a tunable level of tensile strain is developed in the MoS and consequently results in a local phase transition as a result of spontaneously formed surface wrinkles.