Tuning the catalytic properties of monolayer MoS2 through doping and sulfur vacancies

Fuel cells in vehicles are the leading cause of carbon monoxide emissions. CO is one of the most dangerous gases in the atmosphere, as it binds to the hemoglobin in blood cells 200 times easier than O2. As the amount of CO in the blood stream increases, the level of oxygen decreases, which can lead to many neurological problems. To reduce the amount of CO in the atmosphere, scientists have focused on the adsorption of oxygen. The best substrates used today are platinum and palladium monolayers, which are very expensive. Because of this, researchers have searched for cheap materials, such as MoS2, that are able to adsorb oxygen. However, sulfur is a chemically inert site for the oxygen, which greatly decreases the catalytic potential of monolayer MoS2 sheets. Therefore, we carried out first-principles calculations to study the effect of substitutional doping and creating sulfur vacancies on the catalytic properties of MoS2. We calculated the adsorption energy of O on doped MoS2 sheets with vacancies, and compared it to the adsorption energy of O on a Pd monolayer. We found that doping MoS2 with Ir, Rh, Co and Fe significantly decreased the adsorption energy, to below -4 eV, indicating that doped MoS2 is a more effective catalyst than Pd. Incorporating sulfur vacancies into the doped MoS2 sheet was extremely effective, and decreased the adsorption energy below -6 eV. Our results show that iridium is the best catalyst as it has the lowest adsorption energy before and after sulfur vacancies were induced. We concluded that a combination of doping and creating vacancies in monolayer MoS2 sheets can greatly impact the catalytic behavior and make it a more effective, less expensive catalyst than Pt and Pd.