Composition Engineering-Triggered Bifunctionality of Free-Standing Coral-Like 1T-MoS2 for Highly Efficient Overall Water Splitting

Metallic-phase 1T-MoS2 with its good electronic conductivity and abundant active sites attracts more attention for energy conversion and storage. However, developing a high-performance bifunctional 1T-MoS2 for overall water splitting still is a challenge. Herein, a composition (Fe and Mn)-engineering approach that is capable of triggering efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) bifunctionality into coral-like 1T-MoS2 nanorods for overall water splitting is reported. The results demonstrate that composition engineering induces rich crystal defects and electronic structure variation of the freestanding coral-like 1T-MoS2, leading to outstanding HER (overpotential of 34.1 mV at 10 mA cm(-2)) and OER (overpotential of 220.0 mV at 50 mA cm(-2)) activity and excellent stability in alkaline media. The facile composition-engineering activation strategy is also feasible to endow the other transition metal dichalcogenides with dual/multiple functionality.