Hydrogen is a renewable and clean source of energy that is regarded as the basis of promising technological processes. Electrolysis is the most environmentally friendly and non-carbonising way of producing it. This requires electrocatalysts, which speed up the chemical processes considerably. The best of them is fairly expensive platinum metal.

Nowadays, in the world is intensive search for cheaper alternatives, and one of the most active and accessible material is molybdenum disulphide MoS2, but only one of its structural modifications shows high catalytic activity. The problem is that even when heated to 80 ° C, almost inevitable in industrial conditions, it goes into low activity. Therefore scientists are looking for ways to improve the stability of the active form of molybdenum disulphide to improve its catalytic properties.

Scientists from the A.N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow) together with colleagues from Novosibirsk State University and the G.K. Boreskov Institute of Catalysis of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk) have approached the problem and showed that the stability of the desired structural modification can be significantly increased by ensuring that the material has a negative charge on monolayers.

Chemists have improved molybdenum disulfide hybrid layered compounds - promising catalysts for hydrogen production. Studies have shown that their catalytically active form of molybdenum disulfide has become much more stable and retains its properties at elevated temperatures. This will help improve the efficiency of hydrogen extraction from water and promote hydrogen energy.

The results of the study, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), have been published in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy.