Developing highly efficient and durable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts is crucial for addressing the energy and environmental challenges. Among the 2D-layered chalcogenides, MoSe2 possesses superior features for HER catalysis. The van der Waals attractions and high surface energy, however, stack the MoSe2 layers, resulting in a loss of edge active catalytic sites. In addition, MoSe2 suffers from low intrinsic conductivity and weak electrical contact with active sites. To overcome the issues, this work presents a novel approach, wherein the in situ incorporated diethylene glycol solvent into the interlayers of MoSe2 during synthesis when treated thermally in an inert atmosphere at 600 °C transformed into graphene (Gr). This widened the interlayer spacing of MoSe2, thereby exposing more HER active edge sites with high conductivity offered by the incorporated Gr. The resulting MoSe2-Gr composite exhibited a significantly enhanced HER catalytic activity compared to the pristine MoSe2 in an acidic medium and demonstrated a superior HER catalytic activity compared to the state-of-the-art Pt/C catalyst, particularly at a high current density beyond ca. 55 mA cm−2. Additionally, the MoSe2-Gr catalyst demonstrated long-term electrochemical stability during HER. This work, thus, presents a facile and novel approach for obtaining an efficient MoSe2 electrocatalyst applicable in green hydrogen production.

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We have optimized the responsivity and response speed of a β-Ga 2 O 3 -based photodetector. The β-Ga 2 O 3 thin films were deposited on a glass substrate under various oxygen partial pressures from 0 to 50 mTorr using pulsed laser deposition. Time-response measurements show that the as-grown β-Ga 2 O 3 at an oxygen partial pressure of 50 mTorr has the fastest response speed and decay times of 33 and 100 ms, which are better than those prepared at lower oxygen pressures. This sample also showed a high photoresponsivity of 5 A W −1 and detectivity of 10 12 cmHz 1/2 /W. The high performance of the β-Ga 2 O 3 detector grown at the oxygen partial pressure of 50 mTorr might be due to the reduction of oxygen vacancies caused by the increase in oxygen content during deposition. The results reveal the importance of the oxygen processing gas in promoting photodetector performance.

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