Hydrogen energy holds tremendous promise for sustainable green energy innovation. Developing Pt-free catalysts for electrocatalytic hydrogen production is critical for practical implementation of this clean energy technique. The 2D dichalcogenide MoS₂ has shown great promise as an active catalyst in high-efficiency hydrogen production, but the catalytic activity from these materials is limited by its under-coordinated edge sites.

Now, new research has found that “edge-free” monolayer MoS₂ films supported by 3D nanoporous gold possess outstanding catalytic activity, originating from large out-of-plane strains which are geometrically required to manage the 3D curvature of the bicontinuous nanoporous structure. The group responsible for this work believe that it may rea new way to develop monolayer catalysts with an ultra-large effective surface area and excellent catalytic activities by lattice strain engineering.