Size-selective synthesis of platinum nanoparticles on transition-metal dichalcogenides for the hydrogen evolution reaction.

We report a micellar system to prepare Pt-TMDs composites with tunable Pt nanoparticles (NPs, 2–6 nm in size) on single-layer TMDs (MoS2, TiS2, TaS2) nanosheets. The Pt–MoS2 composites have shown excellent performance for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with the Pt NPs exhibiting a volcano-type size effect toward HER activity due to the synergistic effects between the Pt NPs and MoS2.