Two-Dimensional Metal Phosphorus Trichalcogenide Nanostructure for Sustainable Energy Conversion

Two-Dimensional Metal Phosphorus Trichalcogenide Nanostructure for Sustainable Energy Conversion

  • Fengmei Wang *
    Fengmei Wang
    State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
    CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, P. R. China
    *Email: [email protected]
  •  and 
  • Marshet Getaye Sendeku
    Marshet Getaye Sendeku
    CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, P. R. China
    Research Institute of Tsinghua University in Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518057, P. R. China
DOI: 10.1021/bk-2022-1421.ch001
  • Free to Read
Publication Date (Web):November 21, 2022
Copyright © 2022 American Chemical Society. This publication is available under these Terms of Use.
Nanostructured Materials for Sustainable Energy: Design, Evaluation, and Applications
Chapter 1pp 1-25
ACS Symposium SeriesVol. 1421
ISBN13: 9780841297531eISBN: 9780841297524

Chapter Views

2761

Citations

6
LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICS

Chapter Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.

Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.

PDF (5 MB)
SUBJECTS:

Abstract

The rational design of novel two-dimensional (2D) materials has long been sought, with a particular objective in catalysis, energy storage, and conversion. The discovery of 2D metal phosphorus trichalcogenides (MPX3) opens lots of success and breakthroughs in diverse fields such as photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, battery storage, and membrane technologies. In this chapter, a comprehensive overview of the synthesis strategies and applications involving 2D MPX3-based nanomaterials is presented. The recent development in bottom-up and top-down approaches for obtaining low-dimensional nanostructures and their limitations are briefly discussed. Their common [P2X6]4- unit, which exhibits the advantage of monitoring the adsorption-desorption chemistry in several reactions along with the rich toolbox to entertain various metal elements in their structure, makes them act as a suitable candidate in catalysis and energy storage device. Thus, the present chapter highlights the advances of 2D MPX3 nanomaterials and promising potential applications in sustainable energy conversion.

This publication is licensed for personal use by The American Chemical Society.

1 Introduction

CHAPTER SECTIONS
Jump To

Modern society is seeking an affordable, environmentally benign, and efficient energy conversion system. On one hand, the dependence of many manufacturing and chemical industries on fossil fuel caused serious energy shortages. On the other hand, the urgent need to obtain energy storage devices that could be able to be used for storing renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, is vital. To this end, various novel materials with unique nanostructures, especially the two-dimensional (2D) featured nanomaterials, are explored and designed. In the context of these quests, metal phosphorus trichalcogenides (MPX3, X= S, Se), as the newly emerged van der Waals layered materials, have aroused widespread interest. Generally, the M in MPX3 represents kinds of metal elements with different valence states (MII or MIMIII), including transition metals, one of group II alkaline metals, part of group III, and group IV metals ((Figure a1)). In a representative monolayer, the structure can be seen as a honeycomb configuration of the metal ions disseminated around the [P2X6]4- bipyramids ((Figure b1)) ( 1). When considering the structure of typical M22+[P2X6]4- compounds, two-thirds of octahedral centers are occupied by M2+ cations, and the remaining one-third of the position is filled with P-P dimers, which are covalently bonded to the X atoms. The metal cations stabilize [P2X6]4- frameworks through ionic bonds. The different layers are weakly stacked together via van der Waals interactions. Hence, these compounds are sometimes described as M2P2X6. In addition to the M22+[P2X6]4- type, there are possibly five other sub-lattices ( 2, 3), which can be denoted as M1+M3+[P2X6]4- with two different cation orderings, M4/33+2/3[P2X6]4- (the “◻” stands for the vacant site), M21+M2+[P2X6]4- and M4+[P2X6]4-. Note that both anion and cation components can be tuned by altering the M and X atoms in MPX3 to obtain the alloyed analogues. The cation valence state would slightly vary depending on the element chosen. In terms of the crystal system, the widest symmetry of MIIPS3 is C2/m with a monoclinic crystal structure. Most MIIPSe3 are identified as either monoclinic or rhombohedral crystallographic structures ( 4).

Figure 1

Figure 1. (a) The metal atoms and their valence states constituted in MPX3 crystals across the periodic table of elements. Filled blocks represent elements for which the layered MPX3 structure has been reported. (b) Schematic structure of MPX3 with [P2X6]4- bipyramids enclosing the metal atoms. The X layers are distinguished through Xtop and Xbottom.
Although Friedel and Ferrand firstly discovered them in the late 1800s ( 5, 6), significant research development about their interesting structure and physical properties was reported in the early 2000s. In particular, unlike the van der Waals layered transition metal dichalcogenides, several MPX3 materials demonstrate intrinsic physical properties ( 7, 8), including fundamental magnetism ( 9, 10, 11, 12, 13) and ferroelectricity ( 14, 15). For instance, MIIPS3 (MII= Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) crystals show the different types of antiferromagnetic moments-distributions with different Neel temperature. It is noted that each of the distinct properties of MPX3 materials is closely interlinked. The electronic structure determines the magnetic properties and the transition temperature point, as well as the modality of ferroelectricity.
In the context of energy conversion, MPX3 materials showed great development. Both experimental and theoretical efforts have witnessed the great potential that layered MPX3 materials hold for deriving many photocatalytic reactions. Particularly, the theoretical results revealed that MPX3 compounds possess a wide bandgap of 1.2-3.5 eV ( 4), indicating their potential light absorption property which endows them to be an excellent candidate in photo(electro)catalysis for water splitting, carbon dioxide reduction, organic molecular transformation, and so on. In addition, the unusual intercalation-substitution behavior and the incipient ionic conductivity of MPX3 materials promote their utilization in metal-ion batteries ( 16, 17), such as Li-ion and sodium-ion batteries, and ion-exchange membrane ( 18).
In this chapter, the synthesis methods and application of 2D MPX3 nanostructures in photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, battery, and ion-exchange membrane is described.

2 Strategies for MPX3 Synthesis

CHAPTER SECTIONS
Jump To

To date, various synthesis techniques have been adopted for obtaining high-quality bulk and low-dimensional MPX3 crystals. In this section, the strategies employed for synthesizing both bulk and low-dimensional MPX3 nanocrystals are presented.

2.1 Bottom-up Method

2.1.1 Chemical Vapor Transport

Chemical vapor transport (CVT) is the most common method for the synthesis of bulk MPX3 crystals. In a typical procedure, a stoichiometric amount of metal, phosphorus, and chalcogens (S or Se) are mixed and placed in a fused silica ampoule. Subsequently, the mixture is heated at a temperature (denote as T2 region) lower than the decomposition temperature of the target product ((Figure a2)) for several days. A temperature gradient system is used to facilitate the formation of vapour and target products in the other region (denote as T1 region). The heating temperature (400 - 800 °C) in the T2 region is mainly aimed at forming vapor that could be transported to the T1 region, which is at a relatively lower temperature, to form the MPX3 product ((Figure b-h2)) ( 19, 20). Meanwhile, some additional strategies are applied to achieve efficient growth of the MPX3 single crystals: i) for efficient transport, the synthesis temperature can be manipulated by adding elemental halogens (such as Cl2, Br2, and I2) as a vapor transport agent ( 21). But, the possible intercalation of halogens into the layers of the as-obtained MPX3 crystal may occur, and hence the inherent properties of the material may change; ii) the further heating process at ~500 °C is conducted at the T1 region after getting the product to remove the excess sulfur, red phosphorus or transport agent. On account of the low melting point and high vapor pressure of P, S, and Se, they could also serve as vapor transport agents during synthesizing MPX3 bulk crystals ( 3, 19).

Figure 2

Figure 2. (a) Schematic illustration of the CVT approach. (b-h) the digital images for the resulting MPX3 crystal.
Reproduced with permission from ref ( 19). Copyright 2016, American Chemical Society.
Despite the extensive use of the CVT method, there are still several drawbacks associated with it, which are described as follows; i) a typical CVT process employed to synthesize MPX3 materials involves more than three precursors. Hence, there are possibilities for some parasitic reactions to occur, which often lead to the formation of an unwanted phase. The occurrence of such kinds of parasitic reactions is highly pronounced, especially when an attempt is made to grow MIMIIIP2S6 type layered crystals. For example, the formation of (Cu/Ag)3PS4 was noted as an impurity during the growth of the AgICuIIIP2S6 crystal ( 22). ii) CVT process also suffers from the long reaction time, high reaction temperature, and possibility of explosion, which limit the possibility of scaling up the production process. iii) The CVT approach usually synthesizes the bulk crystal. The corresponding nanostructures can be obtained through the additional top-down approaches, including mechanical exfoliation, solution intercalation, electrochemical exfoliation, etc., which will be discussed in the Top-down Method section.

2.1.2 Chemical Vapor Conversion (Deposition)

Chemical vapor conversion ( 11, 23, 24) or chemical vapor deposition ( 25) is the other widely used approach in bottom-up methodology to directly prepare the MPX3 nanomaterials on certain substrates.
In the chemical vapor conversion process, pre-grown metal precursors (metal oxide, metal hydroxide, or metal sulfide) are directly used to react with a mixture of P and S. The synthesis can be accomplished via a two-step process. In the first step, the metal precursors are directly grown via the hydro/solvothermal method on different substrates such as carbon cloth, fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO), indium tin oxide (ITO), etc. In the next step, the as-obtained precursor and a mixture of P and S can be kept in a two-zone furnace and subjected to heat treatment. And the P & S vapor can react with the metal precursors to get the two-dimensional MPX3 nanosheets on the substrates. To achieve the complete conversion process, a custom-designed silica socket tube is used to create a “space confined” condition ((Figure a3)). The term “space confined” here refers to the special configuration of the precursors, including metal precursor and (P + S) powder mixture, in the silica socket tube, where a controlled flow of carrier gas is allowed to transport the P and S in the vapour phase. Compared to CVT, this method is relatively fast and safe.

Figure 3

Figure 3. (a) Schematic illustration for space confined chemical vapor conversion process. (b) AFM images of MPX3 nanosheets grown via this method ( 11, 24, 26, 27).
The 2D MPX3 nanosheets with an ultrathin thickness could be achieved by carefully optimizing the reaction temperature, gas flow rate, and P: S ratio. The temperature in the two zones at which the metal sulfide or oxide precursor is found to be very crucial for the optimum growth. Until now, this method has been successfully employed to synthesize several 2D MPX3 crystals. As shown from the atomic force microscopy (AFM) images ( 11, 24, 26, 27) in (Figure b3), the MPX3 (M= Ni, Mn, Sn, as well as Ni and Co alloys) nanosheet of varying thickness (10-20 nm) could be obtained via this approach. The growth temperature usually varies from 350 to 600, and the reaction time reported in the aforementioned studies is less than 2 h. As for the growth of MPSe3 nanosheets, Shifa et al. ( 27) reported that manipulating the temperature for heating the mixture of P and Se powder is required to avoid the parasitic growth of MnSe. The formation of this unwanted impurity was excluded via a pre-heating treatment of the P and Se mixture, which facilitated the mixing of P and Se before their separate diffusion to the target metal precursor. Later, the method has also been employed to design a solid alloy of Ni1−xCoxPS3 nanosheet ( 11). In recent work ( 25), several MPX3 nanosheets and some alloys were synthesized through the chemical vapor deposition method by using the large-sized MCl2 as the precursor to controllably get the nanosheets on the substrate. This approach is usually employed to obtain high-quality nanosheets for the field in the electronic device study.

2.2 Top-down Method

The top-down strategy is mainly employed to fabricate low-dimensional MPX3 nanocrystals from their bulk counterparts. Earlier theoretical works have witnessed the ease of preparing MPX3 nanosheets from their corresponding bulk crystals. For instance, Kloc and collaborators ( 19) estimated the cleavage energies (Ecl) of several MPX3 compounds by considering the total energy as a function of the separation between two fractured layers. The authors compared the estimated Ecl value of MPX3 with graphite (Ecl = 0.36 J/m2) to judge the feasibility of employing the exfoliation technique to experimentally design low-dimensional materials. With the exception of FePSe3, which has an almost comparable Ecl value with graphite, all calculated values for other MPX3, including NiPS3, FePS3, ZnPS3, CdPS3, MnPS3, and MnPSe3, are smaller than that of graphite ( 19), indicating the possibility of obtaining 2D MPX3 crystals via exfoliation from their bulk counterparts. The following subsections highlight different preparation methods to obtain high-quality 2D MPX3 nanosheets via the exfoliation technique.

2.2.1 Mechanical Exfoliation

Mechanical processes such as ball-milling could be used for the exfoliation of bulk crystals with compact layers into uniform few-layered nanosheets. Through employing a ball mill system, the layered crystals of FePS3 were exfoliated into a few layers. Throughout this process, zirconium dioxide balls were ball milled at a speed of 580 RPM for 12 h under nitrogen (99.99%) environment. The as-obtained sheets with defect-rich surfaces exhibited an enhanced property such as surface area (6.18 and 49.7 m2 g-1 for the pristine and exfoliated FePS3, respectively) ( 28). Moreover, this method was also adopted for the preparation of novel 2D/2D heterojunction containing ultrathin MnPS3 sheets and reduced graphene oxide (rGO). By utilizing high-energy ball milling, it was possible to synthesize a composite structure of rGO with MnPS3. It is interesting to note that such a structure displayed various intriguing properties, including improved conductivity, high charge transfer capacity, and stability ( 29). While such prominent examples are available in the literature, the method is still less practiced for designing several ultrathin MPX3 crystals.
In addition, the mechanical cleavage from a single bulk crystal by using Scotch tape is also applied to get an MPX3 nanosheet for studying its physical properties. This approach can be regarded as a nondestructive exfoliation technique. Thus, the obtained MPX3 nanosheet demonstrates a clean surface with the perfect crystal quality and few defect sites ( 30). Unfortunately, the production yield is quite low with inferior precision and there is restricted controllability for practical application in the energy conversion field.

2.2.2 Solution and Intercalation Methods

Liquid phase exfoliation is one of the most commonly used methods for relatively large-scale production of ultrathin 2D MPX3 sheets from the corresponding bulk crystals ( 31, 32, 33). In a typical procedure, the bulk MPX3 crystal is firstly dispersed in a suitable solvent. And then these crystals are subjected to ultrasonication to yield the corresponding nanosheets. After the ultrasonication process, separation of the bulk crystal is usually required. Ni1-xFexPS3 with ultrathin thickness was prepared by this method utilizing N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF) as a solvent ( 34). Moreover, FePS3 quantum sheets with intriguing properties were prepared through this route ( 35). It has also been reported that mechanical exfoliation could be linked with the liquid phase exfoliation for achieving high-quality MPX3 nanosheets. For example, exfoliation of MnPS3 was carried out mechanically on polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)- coated SiO2/Si substrates ( 36). With the subsequent removal of PMMA layer by acetone, the MnPS3 flakes were easily collected.

2.2.3 Electrochemical Exfoliation Method

The electrochemical exfoliation method is found vital for efficiently unzipping bulk MPX3 crystals. For instance, huge amounts of large-sized high-quality NiPS3 monolayers were obtained utilizing this strategy ( 37, 38, 39). Compared to other approaches, the electrochemical exfoliation process affords numerous advantages: 1) easy to achieve scalable fabrication; 2) producing the MPX3 nanosheet with a large lateral size; 3) cost-effective; 4) having reproducibility and solution processibility. In a typical setup, the targeted MPX3 crystals, Pt wire, and tetra-n-butylammonium tetrafluoroborate in DMF solution act as the working electrode, counter electrode, and electrolyte solution, respectively. The electrochemical exfoliation is achieved via carefully applying a static bias on the working electrode. This approach is found to be a sonication-free and fast (within few minutes) method to prepare large-sized few-layered flakes with high crystallinity and purity. Meanwhile, much more defective sites, which may serve as the active site for the catalytic reactions, could be introduced into the MPX3 nanosheets through this electrochemical exfoliation process.
In summary, low dimensional MPX3 nanocrystals can be obtained via bottom-up and top-down strategies. The chemical vapor conversion method is a directly well-acknowledged synthesis method for 2D MPX3 crystals on various substrates including flexible carbon cloth, rigid FTO glass etc.. And this method has been employed for designing various transition and post-transition metal-based MPX3 nanocrystal film as catalyst for photo/electro-catalytic applications or battery storage. Note that some vacancies (like sulfur vacancy) usually exist in these nanocrystals when applying this approach. The chemical vapor deposition approach is a promising technique to directly grow the two-dimensional MPX3 nanosheets on some certain substrates, which can be further transferred to fabricate the physical devices, including photodetector and field effect transistor. The exfoliation technique has also been widely utilized to obtain 2D MPX3 crystals with relatively larger lateral size. Among various types of exfoliation approaches, mechanical exfoliation is reported to achieve horizontally micro-sized MPX3 crystals with high quality. Hence, this approach is anticipated to facilitate the development of 2D MPX3 nanosheets in basic research of the intrinsic physical property by using one specific nanosheet. Despite this potential advantage, the method still suffers from the issue of scalability. In contrast, liquid phase exfoliation can be employed for large-scale synthesis of MPX3 sheets, which are then used in energy conversion field.

3 Nanostructured MPX3-Based Materials for Sustainable Energy Conversion

CHAPTER SECTIONS
Jump To

3.1 Photocatalysis

Photocatalysis is a photochemical catalytic process, which is a greener alternative capable of producing several kinds of fuels and chemicals under solar light illumination. In general, the photocatalysis process can be based on molecular materials (those participating in natural photosynthesis of the green plant) or on crystalline solids, which are usually semiconductor-based heterogeneous photocatalysts. The solid semiconductor system often offers better stability and a simpler separation of products. Typically, the fundamental mechanism and process for the synthesis of fuels and chemicals over a solid semiconductor under light can be briefly described as follows: i) upon light illumination with suitable radiation energy (greater than or equal to the bandgap of the semiconductor), a semiconductor photocatalyst can absorb the photons, resulting in the generation and accumulation of electrons and holes at the conduction band (CB) and valance band (VB), respectively; ii) the photogenerated charge carriers are then separated and transported to the photocatalyst surface; iii) these photoexcited electrons and holes are finally utilized to drive reduction and oxidation reactions ( 40, 41, 42). From the point of thermodynamics, the position of CB and VB is very helpful in judging the suitability of a semiconductor photocatalyst to derive a particular reaction.
It has been experimentally and theoretically realized that layered MPX3 monolayers possess wide bandgaps ranging from 1.2 to 3.5 eV ((Figure 4)). This offers an immense opportunity for remarkably broader light absorption. Moreover, earlier theoretical works demonstrated that the carrier mobility in monolayer MPX3 is reasonably high (625.9 cm2V-1S-2 for MnPSe3 monolayer) ( 43), which offers the easier transfer of carriers to reactive sites for the photocatalytic process. Moreover, density functional theory (DFT) studies demonstrated that the 2D monolayer MPX3 nanosheets possess excellent light absorption and electronic properties, which become a motivation for the photosynthesis investigation of this family. As shown in (Figure 4), the CB minimum and VB maximum of most MPX3 monolayers straddling with the water splitting and CO2 reduction redox potentials suggests that they can be studied as suitable candidates for photocatalytic water-splitting or CO2 reduction reaction.

Figure 4

Figure 4. The VB maximum and CB minimum positions of various MPX3 monolayers calculated using HSE06 functional in DFT calculations, as well as the redox potentials (V vs Normal Hydrogen Electrode (NHE)) for water splitting and CO2 reduction at pH = 7 ( 2, 4, 43, 44).

3.1.1 Water Photocatalysis for Hydrogen Gas

Hydrogen (H2) is regarded as a clean and sustainable source of energy that yields an energy equivalent to 285.8 kJ/mol upon combustion. At present, the large-scale production of H2 gas relies on methane reforming and water-gas shift reactions, which take place at high temperature (700 – 900 °C) and pressure through using a suitable catalyst. As such, these technologies are energy-intensive and are a potential threat to the environment as they simultaneously produce greenhouse gas (such as CO2) as a bi-product ( 42). As a viable alternative to this process, photocatalytic H2 production from naturally available sources such as water and biomass is considered a cleaner route ( 45, 46). Owing to its low-cost and environmentally benign nature, the photocatalytic water-splitting reaction over a semiconductor material has become an elegant alternative to storing solar energy as a clean and carbon-neutral fuel. Since the pioneering work by Honda and Fujishima in 1972 ( 40), numerous kinds of photocatalysts have been developed and studied. By and large, the overall photocatalytic water splitting reaction involves the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) initiated by electrons from the CB and holes from the VB, respectively. During this process, the thermodynamics and kinetic issues should be taken into account.
The last few decades have seen promising progress in extensively using rationally designed 2D materials for photocatalyzing water splitting, because the 2D feature somehow provides a short distance for the photogenerated electrons and holes to migrate, and thereby reduce the possibility of electron-hole recombination. Meanwhile, a higher specific area with abundant active sites can be easily designed and obtained compared with the corresponding bulk counterparts. In this regard, the MPX3 family provides a versatile platform to design efficient photocatalysts for water splitting. Several exemplary works that unveil the promising potential of 2D MPX3 materials have been communicated ((Table 1)). For instance, Wang et. al ( 23) demonstrated that ultrathin hexagonal NiPS3 nanosheets could produce H2 gas from water without any sacrificial agents at the rate of ∼26.42 μmol g-1 h-1 and 6.46 μmol g-1 h-1 under Xe light (λ > 300 nm) and AM1.5 simulated solar light illumination, respectively. Later, other MPX3-based materials were developed and studied. Few layered FePS3 quantum sheets ( 35), In2/3PS3 ( 24), SnPS3 ( 26), and CdPS3 nanosheets ( 47) exhibited reasonable photocatalytic H2 evolution performance, with the rates reaching 402.4, 875, 665.5, and 10880 μmol g-1 h-1 with help of sacrificial agents, respectively. Although several theoretical reports demonstrated the unique potential of this family, experimental efforts to realize overall water splitting to simultaneously get H2 and O2 gas from MPX3 photocatalyst are still lacking.

3.1.2 CO2 Photocatalysis for Fuels

The growing trend of fossil fuel consumption along with massive anthropogenic CO2 emission have brought a global energy crisis and climate change, and this attracts global attention. Photocatalytic CO2 reduction is expected to be an environmentally friendly and sustainable strategy for converting it into high-value chemicals by utilizing solar energy. This strategy combines the reductive half-reaction of CO2 conversion with an oxidative half-reaction, e.g. H2O oxidation, to create a carbon-neutral cycle, presenting a viable solution to relieving the energy crisis and greenhouse gas effect.
In a photocatalytic reaction process, the free electrons and holes are generated and migrate independently to the surface of photocatalysts to react with adsorbed species (H2O, CO2 etc.) in an aqueous solution. In the case of CO2 reduction, the photogenerated electrons reduce CO2 into fuels, while the photogenerated holes oxidize H2O into O2. As such, the primary difference between photocatalytic water splitting and CO2 reduction is the surface reaction of the photogenerated electrons and the proton or H2O reduction often occurs in competition with CO2 reduction in an aqueous solution ( 49). In the past few decades, significant achievements have been made on photocatalytic CO2 reduction over novel visible-light responsive semiconductors, including metal chalcogenide and the MPX3 group. As shown in (Figure 4), the position of the CB minimum and VB maximum of several MPX3 monolayers aligned with the reduction potentials of CO2 to different chemicals, which indicates that they are potential candidates for photocatalytic CO2 reduction. Thermodynamically, the CB minimum of the MPX3 semiconductor should be much more positive than the reduction potential of CO2 to the target product. For instance, the CB minimum of AgInP2S6 is more positive than the redox potential of CO2 to HCOOH, CO, CH2O, CH3OH, C2H4, and CH4 chemicals, which means that AgInP2S6 could be potentially used as the photocatalyst for those reactions, whereas FePSe3 is not suitable for photocatalytic CO2 reduction due to its lower CB minimum position compared to the redox potential values for those reactions.
Table 1. Comparison of the Performance of MPX3-based Photocatalysts
PhotocatalystMorphologyReaction conditions and light sourceH2 production rate (μmol g-1 h-1)Stability (h)Ref.
MnPS3Nanosheets0.35 M Na2S & 0.25 M Na2SO3 aqueous solution, AM 1.5 solar light illumination21.2-( 27)
Pure water, AM 1.5 solar light illumination3.118
MnPSe3Nanosheets0.35 M Na2S & 0.25 M Na2SO3 aqueous solution, AM 1.5 solar light illumination43.5-
Pure water, AM 1.5 solar light illumination6.518
NiPS3NanosheetsPure water, AM 1.5 solar light illumination6.46-( 23)
0.35 M Na2S & 0.25 M Na2SO3 aqueous solution, 300 W Xe lamp illumination74.67-
Pure water, 300 W Xe lamp illumination26.4215
FePS3Bulk10 vol % TEOA aqueous solution, 300 W Xe lamp illumination94-( 35)
Pure water, 300 W Xe lamp illumination36.1-
Quantum sheets10 vol % TEOA aqueous solution, 300 W Xe lamp illumination29040
Pure water, 300 W Xe lamp illumination89.7-
CuInP2S6Nanosheets0.1 M Na2S & Na2SO3 aqueous solution, 300 W Xe lamp illumination with 400 mW/cm280430( 44)
FePS3Flakes0.1 M Na2S & Na2SO3 aqueous solution
Pure water, 300 W Xe lamp illumination
402.46( 48)
Sn2P2S6NanosheetsPure water, AM 1.5 solar light illumination with 100 mW/cm2202.0640( 26)
0.35 M Na2S & 0.25 M Na2SO3 aqueous solution, AM 1.5 solar light illumination with 100 mW/cm2665.5-
Recently, Gao. W et al. ( 50) reported atomically thin AgInP2S6 nanosheets with sulfur vacancies as the photocatalyst to reduce CO2 into olefiant gas, in which the ethene is the dominant product. The AgInP2S6 nanosheet photocatalyst exhibited the yield-based selectivity of ~73%. In order to suppress the competing HER reaction, the water vapor was used as the source to complete the CO2 reduction reaction. In another study, Fan Y. et al. ( 51) utilized ferroelectric CuInP2S6 with bi- and five-layer to photocatalytically reduce CO2 to CH4. The staggered type-II band structure induced by the vertical intrinsic electric fields within the bilayers and the photovoltage built on the surface could drive effective CO2 reduction, resulting in a long lifetime and redox ability of the photogenerated carriers, and effective light harvesting. High solar-to-fuel efficiency of 8.40 % ~ 32.57 % can be obtained depending on the number of CuInP2S6 layers ((Figure 5)).

Figure 5

Figure 5. Photocatalytic CO2 reduction on bilayer CuInP2S6 with schematic type-II band diagram.
Reproduced with permission from ref ( 51). Copyright 2021, American Chemical Society.
Apart from CO2 reduction photocatalysis, it could be possible to realize other redox processes for organic molecule transformation over the MPX3 materials under light illumination. In this regard, reaction mechanisms may involve a direct electron or hole transfer between the organic substrate and the photocatalyst, or an indirect carrier transfer, encompassing activation of small molecules (like H2O, O2, etc.) as initial steps of the overall reaction. As to the latter one, the generated hydroxyl radical, superoxide radical or hydrogen peroxide will be responsible for consecutive oxidation of organic substrates.

3.2 Electrocatalysis

Electrocatalysis involves the redox reaction in an electrochemical cell with the electrocatalyst facilitating and lowering the overpotential of the specific reactions. The active anode-loaded electrocatalyst is used for oxidation reaction, OER, pollutant oxidation, etc., while the cathode-loaded electrocatalyst is utilized for reduction reaction, HER, organic molecule reduction, etc. Considering the distributed production of different chemicals, the electrochemical strategy is a much greener alternative for replacing the conventional approach to manufacturing chemical proceeds. Notably, the electrocatalytic synthesis is conducted under mild conditions (room temperature, atmospheric pressure), which is different from the demand harsh conditions in thermochemical routes, such as high pressure, high temperature, centralized reaction tank, etc.. When performing the electrochemical reaction, the selection of catalyst depends on the reaction itself and reaction condition, including electrolyte contents, pH, and so on. In an aqueous electrolyte, the water oxidation and reduction reactions have to be noted. For oxygen or hydrogen evolution reactions, the active RuO2 anode and Pt cathode usually are utilized. But, some non-active anodes (boron-doped diamond, semiconductors with wide bandgap) with poor OER performance will be used for electrochemical oxidation of pollutants ( 52) or chemical synthesis at high redox potential ( 53). The MPX3-based nanoarchitectures also exhibit electrocatalytic activity toward catalyzing various electrochemical reactions, including HER, OER, CO2RR, and nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) ( 54). The following sections will focus on the recent progress in the electrocatalytic activities on several MPX3-based electrodes.

3.2.1 Electrocatalytic Water Reduction and Oxidation

Electrocatalytic HER is considered an essential route for energy conversion, which could be realized through the water-splitting process. Ideally, the water-splitting process (Equation ((1))) involves two basic sets of reactions, namely HER at the cathode (Equation ((2))) and OER at the anode (Equation ((3))) under certain potentials, which are given as follows:
The past few years have witnessed the potential application of MPX3 materials for HER electrocatalysis. Owing to their appreciable conductivity and abundant active sites at room temperature, they are acknowledged to be suitable candidates for electrochemical water-splitting. When it comes to 2D morphology, their atomic-level thickness not only enlarges the specific area to expose more active sites but also increases the intrinsic catalytic activity. In 2017, Pumera et al. ( 55) reported a comprehensive study on the HER activity of various few-layered MPSe3 (M = Cr, Mn, Fe, Zn, Cd, Sn) and MPS3 (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn, Cd, Sn) materials. It was noted that FePSe3 showed better performance for hydrogen evolution catalysis under both acidic and alkaline media with robust stability. As for the sulfides, NiPS3 and CoPS3 displayed the highest activity. Along with these studies, some theoretical efforts have indicated that HER would be still challenging on the pristine MPS3 crystals due to the extremely high adsorption free energy for hydrogen ( 34). This calls for the quest to seek various design protocols and modification techniques to precisely tune the intrinsic properties of MPX3-based electrocatalysts. Recently, the electrical conductivity of FePS3 nanosheets obtained from amine-assisted exfoliation of the bulk crystal was easily modulated by manipulating the reaction temperature ( 56). As a result, the FePS3 demonstrated an enhanced HER activity. Likewise, the heterostructured NiPS3/Ni2P electrocatalyst ( 57) also showed an appreciable decrease in overpotential and Tafel slope in (Figure a-b6). the epitaxial interface created between Ni2P and NiPS3 is found to play a pivotal role in decreasing the energy barrier for the H adsorption, and thereby, enhancing its HER performance ((Figure c6)). The fact that Ni2P and NiPS3 possess very similar lattice parameters (a = b = 5.85 and 5.81 Å for NiPS3 and Ni2P, respectively) affords the possibility to grow Ni2P epitaxially at NiPS3 with only a small interfacial strain (-0.68 %). Interestingly, the built-in electric field generated at this epitaxial interface promotes the acceleration of electron transfer, resulting in improved HER activity ((Figure d6)).

Figure 6

Figure 6. Electrocatalytic HER activity on NiPS3/Ni2P electrode. a-b) Comparison of the linear sweep voltammetry profiles (a) and the corresponding Tafel plots (b) for the as-grown NiPS3, Ni2P, NiPS3/Ni2P electrodes. c) the Gibbs energy profile for H adsorption (ΔGH*) obtained at the equilibrium potential (U = 0 V) for the as-grown NiPS3/Ni2P, Ni2P (001), Ni2P (110), and NiPS3 (110). d) Charge density difference at the heterointerfaces between NiPS3 and Ni2P. The electron accumulation and depletion are marked with red and green, respectively. The grey, yellow, purple, and blue colors represent Ni, S, P, and H atoms, which are marked in, respectively.
Reproduced with permission from ref ( 57). Copyright 2019, American Chemical Society.
It has been reported that the [P2X6]4- units exposed at the edges of 2D MPX3 could favor H adsorption and facilitate HER catalysis ( 55, 58, 59). Importantly, the P and S on the edge are postulated to be preferable sites for hydrogen adsorption and desorption ( 31, 32). Taking FePS3 as an example, Mukherjee et al. ( 32) unveiled the excellent HER catalytic activity and stability under a wide pH range (acidic, alkaline, phosphate buffer, and 3.5 wt% aqueous NaCl solution) due to the P and S acting as the H adsorption sites. Also, both P and Se in FePSe3 are found to promote an enhanced catalytic activity when compared with Fe-based sulfides, phosphides, and other layered selenides ( 31). In contrast to the edge, the basal plane is reported to be inert. To promote the HER activity of this plane, numerous strategies such as heteroatom doping, strain engineering, and creating vacancies could be applied. For instance, Wang et al. ( 37) attempted to engineer the basal surface of NiPS3 by introducing nonmetal atoms (C, N, B). The study revealed that doping B and C in NiPS3 could alter the behavior of NiPS3 from semiconducting to a metal, which results in an enhanced HER performance. Moreover, the C, N co-doped NiPS3 display Pt-like activity in alkaline solution.
Although a plethora of works are reported on the application of MPX3-based materials for HER catalysis, realizing superb OER performance and stability from such electrodes is still challenging. Until now, some attempts have been made to examine the water oxidation at the MPX3 surface. This is usually accomplished by dynamic structural change accompanied by the surface transformation of the catalyst surface, forming metal oxide or hydroxide phase as an active site. For example, Konkena et al. ( 60) investigated the OER activity of NiPS3 nanosheets obtained via ionic surfactant-assisted exfoliation of its bulk counterpart. The nanosheet electrocatalyst displayed as low as 250 mV onset potential and robust stability for over 160 h. Combined theoretical and in situ structural studies enabled the identification of the NiPS3@NiOOH core-shell structure. In another study, Zhu and coworkers ( 28) investigated the OER activity of FePS3 and found that the overpotential and Tafel slope of this electrode could reach 390 mV and 58 mV dec−1, respectively. By employing theoretical calculations and post-structural characterizations, the authors revealed the introduction of in-plane defects in FePS3 layers after exfoliation and the formation of a FePS3-FeOOH heterostructure during the OER catalysis play a significant role on enhancing its catalytic activity.
In electrocatalysis, the reconstruction of an electrode material could change its inherent electrical and catalytic properties. Therefore, identifying the active site in heterogeneous catalysis is very crucial, yet still remains an ongoing challenge. In an attempt to investigate the structural chemistry in relation to the concept of the active site, quite limited success has already been achieved in discovering the surface reconstruction phenomena utilizing MPX3 based materials. Hence, the real catalytic active site in this family is still debating, which requires further experimental and theoretical efforts. Besides, there are still some challenges that urgently require an in-depth systematic study: i) what is the origin of the observed surface transformation of the catalyst? ii) what is the relationship between the observed activity and structural change? iii) what are the real active species under the real reaction condition? As such, a case-by-case investigation of the aforementioned issues would offer a complete understanding of the overall process.

3.2.2 Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction Reaction

Electrochemical transformation of CO2 to various hydrocarbons, alcohols, and carboxylics via the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) is one of the most effective approaches. Compared with photocatalytic CO2 reduction, electrocatalytic process could be much more attractive in practical applications since the process can be powered by renewable electricity ( 61, 62), which becomes abundant and affordable recently. Thus, CO2 conversion to value-added chemicals with high selectivity and faradaic efficiency through the electrochemical process attracts much more attention in this field. Electrocatalytic CO2RR could proceed through 2-, 4-, 6-, or even 18- electron transfer to produce various chemicals. The typical half-reaction involved in CO2 electrolysis is summarized in (Figure 4) and (Table 2) ( 63). The products could be classified into C1, C2, and C3+ according to the number of carbon atoms in the chemicals. In an aqueous electrolyte, HER via water reduction usually competes with the CO2RR, resulting in a decrease in the current efficiency of the overall reaction.
With respect to thermodynamics, CO2 is a very stable molecule with a strong C=O bond (750 kJ mol-1); thus, it must overcome a large energy barrier to induce CO2 conversion at a more negative potential than the values shown in (Table 2). In addition, CO2 reduction is generally initiated through single-electron transfer to a CO2 molecule to obtain *CO2·- radical, which occurs at a potential of -1.9 V (vs standard hydrogen electrode (SHE)), thereby leading to a larger thermodynamic barrier for CO2 reduction into certain products ( 64). Catalytic strategies have thus been developed to bypass the formation of CO2·- through proton-assisted multiple-electron transfer to reduce the energy barrier during the CO2 conversion process.
Table 2. Half Reactions of CO2RR for Various Products Along with the Corresponding Standard Redox Potential (25 °C, 1 Atmosphere of Gases and 1 M Solutes in Aqueous Solution)
Half-reactionE0/V (vs. SHE)
CO2 + e- → *CO2--1.90
CO2 + 2H+ + 2e- → HCOOH (aq)-0.61
CO2 + 2H+ + 2e- → CO (g) + H2O-0.53
CO2 + 6H+ + 6e- → CH3OH (aq) + H2O-0.38
CO2 + 8H+ + 8e- → CH4 (g) + 2H2O-0.24
2CO2 + 8H+ + 8e- → CH3COOH (aq) + 2H2O-0.30
2CO2 + 10H+ + 10e- → CH3CHO (aq) + 3H2O-0.35
2CO2 + 12H+ + 12e- → C2H5OH (aq) +3H2O-0.33
2CO2 + 12H+ + 12e- → C2H4 (g) + 4H2O-0.34
2CO2 + 14H+ + 14e- → C2H6 (g) + 4H2O-0.27
3CO2 + 18H+ + 18e- → C3H7OH (aq) + 5H2O-0.32
As a three-phase chemical reaction, the electrochemical CO2RR mainly includes the steps of diffusion, adsorption, activation, cleavage, dimerization, and product desorption. (Figure 7) demonstrates the possible pathways from gaseous CO2 to various products. Briefly, the CO2 molecule in the electrolyte can be captured by the active sites of catalysts and activated into two possible intermediates HCOO* or *COOH via proton-electron (H+/e-) transfer steps. With another electron transfer, HCOO* tends to be reduced to formate (HCOO-) or formic acid (HCOOH), while *COOH acts as the dominating intermediate for CO formation or C2+ products. The catalyst surfaces with weakly bound *CO intermediate lead to desorption of *CO and formation of CO, while the optimized surface with the sufficiently strong binding *CO intermediate makes further reactions possible to get C2 or C2+ products through the dimerization carbon-carbon coupling step.

Figure 7

Figure 7. (a) Overview of the primary pathways for CO2RR towards different products. b-c) Electrocatalytic CO2RR for different products at different potentials over Fe2P2S6 nanosheets (b), and optimized adsorption of CO2 molecular over Fe2P2S6 surface (c), in which red and blue regions represent positive and negative charges, respectively.
Reproduced with permission from ref ( 65). Copyright 2019, American Chemical Society.
Apart from commonly used metal catalysts, such as Cu, Ag and Pd etc., MPX3 materials also exhibit application in electrocatalytic CO2RR due to their relatively poor hydrogen evolution in the aqueous electrolyte. In recent work, Fe2P2S6 nanosheet was used as the electrocatalyst for alcohols through the CO2RR process ( 65). It exhibited highly selective hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol and ethanol ((Figure b7)) with a total faradaic efficiency of 88.3% at -0.20 V (vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)). The strong adsorption of CO2 molecule at the bridge site above two Fe atoms with an end-on pattern, along with the nearby S bonded to the C atom, indicate strong binding interactions between CO2 and Fe2P2S6 nanosheet ((Figure c7)). And the catalytic activity of other MPX3 materials in CO2RR still deserve further exploration and study.

3.3 Battery

The layered MPX3 crystals possess the intercalation behavior to entertain the foreign species, including molecules and ions, within their van der Waals gaps. This feature creates a suitable platform for the realization of various ion-related batteries based on MIIPX3 materials. Li+ and Na+ ions are shown to electrochemically intercalate into the MIIPX3 crystals ( 66, 67). In the intercalation process, the stabilization of the cations, such as Fe2+, Co2+, and Ni2+, in the octahedral chalcogen site is crucial to keep promising storage properties ( 67). And some factors will influence the performance of the Li+ or Na+ secondary battery system. For instance, the difference between the Li+/Li potential and the accepting d level, namely |△G| free energy, in the MIIPX3 would affect the potential and capacity of the Li-ion battery. Generally, high formation energy for the intercalates, like LixNiPS3, is related to the high potential of the host compound. Thus the nickel, whose accepting d band is eg, based MIIPX3 phase was proved to be a good candidate used in Li-ion batteries ( 68).
In addition, the ideal size of the van der Waals gap presents the suitable space to accommodate the Li+ or Na+ ions without crystal expansion of the MPX3. The unchanged cell volume is a notable advantage of the MPX3 compounds used as a cathode due to their broader van der Waals gap viz. 3.20 Å for NiPS3 ( 69), 3.22 Å for MnPSe3 ( 70), and 3.5 Å for MnPS3 ( 71) than the metal dichalcogenides (TiS2, ZrS2 etc.) ((Figure 8)). This family of MPX3 materials could possess attractive Li or Na storage properties for rechargeable batteries with the ideal capacities of over 1300 mA h g-1 through the electrochemical reaction of MPX3+ 9Li+/Na+ + 9e- → 3Li/Na2X+ Li/Na3P + M, where nine Li+ or Na+ ions per molecule of MPX3 intercalation ( 72, 73). The formation of the lithium or sodium phosphides and chalcogenides endow these materials with improved conductivity, and thus the increased rate and cycling performance with high specific capacity could be obtained for the MPX3-based batteries.

Figure 8

Figure 8. Expansion Δc/n in Li host intercalates as a function of the initial width of the van der Waals gap ( 69, 70, 71).
Q. Liang et al. ( 74) reported the Li/Na ions storage properties of typical FePS3, NiPS3, and CoPS3 nanosheets synthesized through the solid-state method. Compared with specific capacity (< 800 mA h g-1 at 0.05 A g-1) of the bulk counterparts ( 73, 75), these nanosheets demonstrated better performance with a discharge capacity of 1100 mA h g-1 at the current density of 0.05 A g-1 and initial coulombic efficiency of 61.2% ((Figure a-b9)). The high crystallinity, large surface area, abundant ion diffusion pathway, and improved contact with the electrolyte or collector of the nanosheet materials account for the promoted storage properties. Later, the same group also synthesized Sn4+P2S6 nanosheets on graphene to fabricate a hybrid structure as the active material in an anode for a sodium ion full cell ( 76). Furthermore, the strategies, including polymer intercalation ( 74), constructing hybrid structure ( 29), or heteroatom doping ( 59) were employed to increase the Li/Na ion storage capacity and stability.

Figure 9

Figure 9. Electrochemical performance of NiPS3 nanosheet electrode used for Li-ion battery. (a) Cyclic voltammetric curves for the first four cycles at 0.1 mV/s. (b) The representative galvanostatic charge-discharge profiles for the four cycles at 0.05 A/g.
Reproduced with permission from ref ( 74). Copyright 2017, Wiley-VCH.

3.4 Ion Exchange Membrane

The MPX3 compounds have a specifically ionic feature along with the metal ion movement or poling, which is mutually connected by [P2S6]4- bridging ligands ( 77). Thus, the MPX3 materials could also be treated as ionic salts. The high mobility of the metal cations in the crystal structures endows them with the ion-exchange property during the intercalation process. The fairly ionic M-S bonding still exhibits enough lability to allow M cation to “jump” or “transfer” under very mild conditions ( 78). In this case, the pristine M cation sites as the vacancies could be occupied or intercalated by other suitable cations (like Li+, Na+, H+, etc.) in the aqueous solution to maintain neutrality. There is a heterogeneous equilibrium between M ions and the solvated P2S64-. Taking CdPS3 as an example, the fairly ionic Cd-S bond makes the Cd vacancies easily form by using KCl/K2CO3 solution with help of ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) molecules at 50 °C ( 18, 79). The K+ intercalation occurs simultaneously and then the ion exchange process between K+ and Li+ or H+ could be achieved in the LiCl or HCl solution ((Figure 10)). After those ions transfer and exchange processes, Cd0.85PS3Li0.3 or Cd0.85PS3Li0.15H0.15 with different structural features were obtained to act as the proton membrane. The ordered water molecular network between the layers in this membrane could form to provide a proton transport channel and achieve high proton conductivity in the end.

Figure 10

Figure 10. Ion-exchange property in layered CdPS3 material as proton exchange membrane.
Reproduced with permission from ref ( 79). Copyright 2020, Science.

4 Conclusion

CHAPTER SECTIONS
Jump To

In this chapter, a family of MPX3 nanostructures used in the energy conversion field is discussed. As van der Waals layered materials, MPX3 crystals possess the structural backbone of hexagonal [P2X6]4- complex arrays. The metal cation stabilizing this structure can be readily varied, resulting in correlated physical behaviors. The big difference between MPX3 and common layered transition metal dichalcogenide is the bonding form of M-X. The strong ionic bonding in MPX3 endows them with rich functionalities, including intercalation effect, comparatively large bandgaps, magnetism, ferroelectricity, etc.. After reviewing the methods for MPX3 nanostructure synthesis, and applications in catalysis, batteries, and ion exchange membrane, it is fair to say that the potential of the MPX3 class has yet to be thoroughly explored. The 2D MPX3 crystals with an ultrathin feature, defect interface, large surface area, tunable interlayer spacings, better conductivity, a robust interface are promising alternatives for energy conversion or storage. Although the photocatalytic and electrocatalytic water splitting, carbon dioxide reduction, as well as ion battery storage properties of the MPX3 group have been reported, their industrial application in those fields has not been achieved. In the future, thus, the most scalable synthesis protocols and the stable rational design of MPX3 nanomaterials are desirable for practical application.

Acknowledgments

CHAPTER SECTIONS
Jump To

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22179029 and 21805057). The authors also gratefully acknowledge the support of Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS, and contribution of Mr. Ning Gao on this book chapter writing.

References

CHAPTER SECTIONS
Jump To

This chapter references 79 other publications.

  1. 1
    Chittari B. L. Park Y. Lee D. Han M. MacDonald A. H. Hwang E. Jung J. Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Single-Layer MPX3 Metal Phosphorous Trichalcogenides Phys. Rev. B 2016 94 18 184428
  2. 2
    Susner M. A. Chyasnavichyus M. McGuire M. A. Ganesh P. Maksymovych P. Metal Thio- and Selenophosphates as Multifunctional van der Waals Layered Materials Adv. Mater. 2017 29 38 1602852
  3. 3
    Samal R. Sanyal G. Chakraborty B. Rout C. S. Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Phosphorous Trichalcogenides (MPX3): A Review on Emerging Trends, Current State and Future Perspectives J. Mater. Chem. A 2021 9 5 2560 2591
  4. 4
    Wang F. Shifa T. A. Yu P. He P. Liu Y. Wang F. Wang Z. Zhan X. Lou X. Xia F. He J. New Frontiers on van der Waals Layered Metal Phosphorous Trichalcogenides Adv. Funct. Mater. 2018 28 37 1802151
  5. 5
    Friedel M. C. Soufre et ses composés—sur une nouvelle série de sulfophosphures, les thiohypophosphates CR l’Academie. Sci. Ser 1894 3 119 260
  6. 6
    Ouvrard G. Brec R. Rouxel J. Structural determination of some MPS3 layered phases (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni and Cd) Mater. Res. Bull. 1985 20 1181 1189
  7. 7
    Hwangbo K. Zhang Q. Jiang Q. Wang Y. Fonseca J. Wang C. Diederich G. M. Gamelin D. R. Xiao D. Chu J. H. Yao W. Xu X. Highly Anisotropic Excitons and Multiple Phonon Bound States in a van der Waals Antiferromagnetic Insulator Nat. Nanotechnol. 2021 16 6 655 660
  8. 8
    Kang S. Kim K. Kim B. H. Kim J. Sim K. I. Lee J. U. Lee S. Park K. Yun S. Kim T. Nag A. Walters A. Garcia-Fernandez M. Li J. Chapon L. Zhou K. J. Son Y. W. Kim J. H. Cheong H. Park J. G. Coherent Many-Body Exciton in van der Waals Antiferromagnet NiPS3 Nature 2020 583 7818 785 789
  9. 9
    Joy P. A. Vasudevan S. Magnetism in the Layered Transition-Metal Thiophosphates MPS3 (M=Mn, Fe, and Ni) Phys. Rev. B 1992 46 9 5425 5433
  10. 10
    Wildes A. R. Simonet V. Ressouche E. McIntyre G. J. Avdeev M. Suard E. Kimber S. A. J. Lançon D. Pepe G. Moubaraki B. Hicks T. J. Magnetic Structure of the Quasi-Two-Dimensional Antiferromagnet NiPS3 Phys. Rev. B 2015 92 22 224408
  11. 11
    Wang F. Mathur N. Janes A. N. Sheng H. He P. Zheng X. Yu P. DeRuiter A. J. Schmidt J. R. He J. Jin S. Defect-Mediated Ferromagnetism in Correlated Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Phosphorus Trisulfides Sci. Adv. 2021 7 43 eabj4086
  12. 12
    Wang X. Cao J. Lu Z. Cohen A. Kitadai H. Li T. Tan Q. Wilson M. Lui C. H. Smirnov D. Sharifzadeh S. Ling X. Spin-Induced Linear Polarization of Photoluminescence in Antiferromagnetic van der Waals Crystals Nat. Mater. 2021 20 7 964 970
  13. 13
    Kim K. Lim S. Y. Lee J. U. Lee S. Kim T. Y. Park K. Jeon G. S. Park C. H. Park J. G. Cheong H. Suppression of Magnetic Ordering in XXZ-Type Antiferromagnetic Monolayer NiPS3 Nat. Commun. 2019 10 1 345
  14. 14
    Belianinov A. He Q. Dziaugys A. Maksymovych P. Eliseev E. Borisevich A. Morozovska A. Banys J. Vysochanskii Y. Kalinin S. V. CuInP2S6 Room Temperature Layered Ferroelectric Nano Lett. 2015 15 6 3808 3814
  15. 15
    Dziaugys A. Banys J. Macutkevic J. Sobiestianskas R. Vysochanskii Y. Dipolar Glass Phase in Ferrielectrics: CuInP2S6 and Ag0.1Cu0.9InP2S6 Crystals Phys. Status Solidi A 2010 207 8 1960 1967
  16. 16
    Silipigni L. Schiro L. Scolaro L. M. De Luca G. Salvato G. Lithium Ions Conduction in Li2xMn1-xPS3 Films Philos. Mag. 2014 94 35 4026 4036
  17. 17
    Kuzminskii Y. V. Voronin B. M. Redin N. N. Iron and Nickel Phosphorus Trisulfides as Electroactive Materials for Primary Lithium Batteries J. Power Sources 1995 55 2 133 141
  18. 18
    Qian X. Chen L. Yin L. Liu Z. Pei S. Li F. Hou G. Chen S. Song L. Thebo K. H. Cheng H. M. Ren W. CdPS3 Nanosheets-Based Membrane with High Proton Conductivity Enabled by Cd Vacancies Science 2020 370 6516 596 600
  19. 19
    Du K. Z. Wang X. Z. Liu Y. Hu P. Utama M. I. Gan C. K. Xiong Q. Kloc C. Weak Van der Waals Stacking, Wide-Range Band Gap, and Raman Study on Ultrathin Layers of Metal Phosphorus Trichalcogenides ACS Nano 2016 10 2 1738 1743
  20. 20
    Nitsche R. Wild P. Crystal Growth of Metal-Phosphorus-Sulfur Compounds by Vapor Transport Mater. Res. Bull. 1970 5 6 419 423
  21. 21
    Gusmao R. Sofer Z. Pumera M. Metal Phosphorous Trichalcogenides (MPCh3 ): From Synthesis to Contemporary Energy Challenges Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 2019 58 28 9326 9337
  22. 22
    Gave M. A. Bilc D. Mahanti S. D. Breshears J. D. Kanatzidis M. G. On the Lamellar Compounds CuBiP2Se6, AgBiP2Se6 and AgBiP2S6. Antiferroelectric Phase Transitions due to Cooperative Cu+ and Bi3+ Ion Motion Inorg. Chem. 2005 44 15 5293 5303
  23. 23
    Wang F. Shifa T. A. He P. Cheng Z. Chu J. Liu Y. Wang Z. Wang F. Wen Y. Liang L. He J. Two-Dimensional Metal Phosphorus Trisulfide Nanosheet with Solar Hydrogen-Evolving Activity Nano Energy 2017 40 673 680
  24. 24
    Yu P. Meng J. Wang F. Sendeku M. G. Wu B. Sui X. Gao N. Zhan X. Lou X. Wang Z. He J. Carbonate-Ion-Mediated Photogenerated Hole Transfer to Boost Hydrogen Production J. Phys. Chem. C 2022 126 25 10367 10377
  25. 25
    Zhou J. Zhu C. Zhou Y. Dong J. Li P. Zhang Z. Wang Z. Lin Y. C. Shi J. Zhang R. Zheng Y. Yu H. Tang B. Liu F. Wang L. Liu L. Liu G. B. Hu W. Gao Y. Yang H. Gao W. Lu L. Wang Y. Suenaga K. Liu G. Ding F. Yao Y. Liu Z. Composition and Phase Engineering of Metal Chalcogenides and Phosphorous Chalcogenides Nat. Mater. 2022
    https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-022-01291-5.
  26. 26
    Sendeku M. G. Wang F. Cheng Z. Yu P. Gao N. Zhan X. Wang Z. He J. Nonlayered Tin Thiohypodiphosphate Nanosheets: Controllable Growth and Solar-Light-Driven Water Splitting ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2021 13 11 13392 13399
  27. 27
    Shifa T. A. Wang F. Cheng Z. He P. Liu Y. Jiang C. Wang Z. He J. High Crystal Quality 2D Manganese Phosphorus Trichalcogenide Nanosheets and Their Photocatalytic Activity Adv. Funct. Mater. 2018 28 18 1800548
  28. 28
    Zhu W. Gan W. Muhammad Z. Wang C. Wu C. Liu H. Liu D. Zhang K. He Q. Jiang H. Zheng X. Sun Z. Chen S. Song L. Exfoliation of Ultrathin FePS3 Layers as a Promising Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction Chem. Commun. 2018 54 35 4481 4484
  29. 29
    Sang Y. Wang L. Cao X. Ding G. Ding Y. Hao Y. Xu N. Yu H. Li L. Peng S. Emerging 2D-Layered MnPS3/rGO Composite as a Superior Anode for Sodium-Ion Batteries J. Alloys Compd. 2020 831 154775
  30. 30
    Liu J. Li X. B. Wang D. Lau W.-M. Peng P. Liu L.-M. Diverse and Tunable Electronic Structures of Single-layer Metal Phosphorus Trichalcogenides for Photocatalytic Water Splitting J. Chem. Phys. 2014 140 5 054707
  31. 31
    Mukherjee D. Austeria M. P. Sampath S. Few-Layer Iron Selenophosphate, FePSe3: Efficient Electrocatalyst toward Water Splitting and Oxygen Reduction Reactions ACS Appl. Energy Mater. 2018 1 1 220 231
  32. 32
    Mukherjee D. Austeria P. M. Sampath S. Two-Dimensional, Few-Layer Phosphochalcogenide, FePS3: A New Catalyst for Electrochemical Hydrogen Evolution over Wide pH Range ACS Energy Lett. 2016 1 2 367 372
  33. 33
    Jenjeti R. N. Kumar R. Sampath S. Two-Dimensional, Few-layer NiPS3 for Flexible Humidity Sensor with High Selectivity J. Mater. Chem. A 2019 7 24 14545 14551
  34. 34
    Song B. Li K. Yin Y. Wu T. Dang L. Caban-Acevedo M. Han J. Gao T. Wang X. Zhang Z. Schmidt J. R. Xu P. Jin S. Tuning Mixed Nickel Iron Phosphosulfide Nanosheet Electrocatalysts for Enhanced Hydrogen and Oxygen Evolution ACS Catal. 2017 7 12 8549 8557
  35. 35
    Cheng Z. Shifa T. A. Wang F. Gao Y. He P. Zhang K. Jiang C. Liu Q. He J. High-Yield Production of Monolayer FePS3 Quantum Sheets via Chemical Exfoliation for Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Adv. Mater. 2018 30 26 1707433
  36. 36
    Dinh Hoa L. Thanh Luan P. Ghimire G. Dinh Loc D. Lee Y. H. Revealing Antiferromagnetic Transition of van der Waals MnPS3 via Vertical Tunneling Electrical Resistance Measurement APL Mater. 2019 7 8 081102
  37. 37
    Wang J. Li X. Wei B. Sun R. Yu W. Hoh H. Y. Xu H. Li J. Ge X. Chen Z. Su C. Wang Z. Activating Basal Planes of NiPS3 for Hydrogen Evolution by Nonmetal Heteroatom Doping Adv. Funct. Mater. 2020 30 12 1908708
  38. 38
    Li X. Fang Y. Wang J. Wei B. Qi K. Hoh H. Y. Hao Q. Sun T. Wang Z. Yin Z. Zhang Y. Lu J. Bao Q. Su C. High-Yield Electrochemical Production of Large-Sized and Thinly Layered NiPS3 Flakes for Overall Water Splitting Small 2019 15 30 1902427
  39. 39
    Sekine T. Jouanne M. Julien C. Balkanski M. Raman Scattering in the Antiferromagnet FePS3 Intercalated with Lithium Mater. Sci. Eng. B Solid State Mater. Adv. Technol. 1989 3 1−2 91 95
  40. 40
    Fujishima A. Honda K. Electrochemical Photolysis of Water at a Semiconductor Electrode Nature 1972 238 5358 37 38
  41. 41
    Nakata K. Fujishima A. TiO2 Photocatalysis: Design and Applications J. Photochem. Photobiol. C 2012 13 3 169 189
  42. 42
    Chiesa P. Consonni S. Kreutz T. Williams R. Co-Production of Hydrogen, Electricity and CO2 from Coal with Commercially Ready Technology. PartA: Performance and Emissions Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 2005 30 7 747 767
  43. 43
    Zhang X. Zhao X. Wu D. Jing Y. Zhou Z. MnPSe3 Monolayer: A Promising 2D Visible-Light Photohydrolytic Catalyst with High Carrier Mobility Adv. Sci. 2016 3 10 1600062
  44. 44
    Yu P. Wang F. Meng J. Shifa T. A. Sendeku M. G. Fang J. Li S. Cheng Z. Lou X. He J. Few-Layered CuInP2S6 Nanosheet with Sulfur Vacancy Boosting Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution CrystEngComm 2021 591 598
  45. 45
    Navarro R. M. Sánchez-Sánchez M. C. Alvarez-Galvan M. C. Valle F. d. Fierro J. L. G. Hydrogen Production from Renewable Sources: Biomass and Photocatalytic Opportunities Energy Environ. Sci. 2009 2 1 35 54
  46. 46
    Shimura K. Yoshida H. Heterogeneous Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production from Water and Biomass Derivatives Energy Environ. Sci. 2011 4 7 2467 2481
  47. 47
    Zhang Y. Zhao Y. Bao C. Xiao Y. Xiang Y. Song M. Huang W. Ma L. Hou H. Chen X. Facile synthesis of cadmium phosphorus trisulfide nanosheets for highly efficient photocatalytic performance J. Alloys Compd. 2022 909 164731
  48. 48
    Cheng Z. Sendeku M. G. Liu Q. Layered Metal Phosphorous Trichalcogenides Nanosheets: Facile Synthesis and Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Nanotechnology 2020 31 13 135405
  49. 49
    Chang X. Wang T. Gong J. CO2 Photo-reduction: Insights into CO2 Activation and Reaction on Surfaces of Photocatalysts Energy Environ. Sci. 2016 9 7 2177 2196
  50. 50
    Gao W. Li S. He H. Li X. Cheng Z. Yang Y. Wang J. Shen Q. Wang X. Xiong Y. Zhou Y. Zou Z. Vacancy-Defect Modulated Pathway of Photoreduction of CO2 on Single Atomically Thin AgInP2S6 Sheets into Olefiant Gas Nat. Commun. 2021 12 1 4747
  51. 51
    Fan Y. Song X. Ai H. Li W. Zhao M. Highly Efficient Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction in Two-Dimensional Ferroelectric CuInP2S6 Bilayers ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2021 13 29 34486 34494
  52. 52
    De Battisti, A.; Martínez-Huitle, C. A. , Electrocatalysis in Wastewater Treatment. In Electrochemical Water and Wastewater Treatment; Martínez-Huitle, C. A., Rodrigo, M. A., Scialdone, O. , Eds.; Butterworth-Heinemann: 2018; pp 119131.
  53. 53
    de Freitas Araujo K. C. da Silva D. R. dos Santos E. V. Varela H. Martinez-Huitle C. A. Investigation of Persulfate Production on BDD Anode by Understanding the Impact of Water Concentration J. Electroanal. Chem. 2020 860 113927
  54. 54
    Huang H. Li F. Xue Q. Zhang Y. Yin S. Chen Y. Salt-Templated Construction of Ultrathin Cobalt Doped Iron Thiophosphite Nanosheets toward Electrochemical Ammonia Synthesis Small 2019 15 51 1903500
  55. 55
    Mayorga-Martinez C. C. Sofer Z. Sedmidubsky D. Huber S. Eng A. Y. Pumera M. Layered Metal Thiophosphite Materials: Magnetic, Electrochemical, and Electronic Properties ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2017 9 14 12563 12573
  56. 56
    Yu Z. Peng J. Liu Y. Liu W. Liu H. Guo Y. Amine-Assisted Exfoliation and Electrical Conductivity Modulation Toward Few-layer FePS3 Nanosheets for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution J. Mater. Chem. A 2019 7 23 13928 13934
  57. 57
    Lian Q. Zhong L. Du C. Luo Y. Zhao J. Zheng Y. Xu J. Ma J. Liu C. Li S. Yan Q. Interfacing Epitaxial Dinickel Phosphide to 2D Nickel Thiophosphate Nanosheets for Boosting Electrocatalytic Water Splitting ACS Nano 2019 13 7 7975 7984
  58. 58
    Gusmão R. Sofer Z. Sedmidubský D. Huber Š. Pumera M. The Role of the Metal Element in Layered Metal Phosphorus Triselenides upon Their Electrochemical Sensing and Energy Applications ACS Catal. 2017 7 12 8159 8170
  59. 59
    Hao Y. Huang A. Han S. Huang H. Song J. Sun X. Wang Z. Li L. Hu F. Xue J. Peng S. Plasma-Treated Ultrathin Ternary FePSe3 Nanosheets as a Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Efficient Zinc–Air Batteries ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2020 12 26 29393 29403
  60. 60
    Konkena B. Masa J. Botz A. J. R. Sinev I. Xia W. Koßmann J. Drautz R. Muhler M. Schuhmann W. Metallic NiPS3@NiOOH Core–Shell Heterostructures as Highly Efficient and Stable Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction ACS Catal. 2017 7 1 229 237
  61. 61
    Bushuyev O. S. De Luna P. Dinh C. T. Tao L. Saur G. van de Lagemaat J. Kelley S. O. Sargent E. H. What Should We Make with CO2 and How Can We Make It ? Joule 2018 2 5 825 832
  62. 62
    Nitopi S. Bertheussen E. Scott S. B. Liu X. Y. Engstfeld A. K. Horch S. Seger B. Stephens I. E. L. Chan K. Hahn C. Norskov J. K. Jaramillo T. F. Chorkendorff I. Progress and Perspectives of Electrochemical CO2 Reduction on Copper in Aqueous Electrolyte Chem. Rev. 2019 119 12 7610 7672
  63. 63
    Zhao K. Quan X. Carbon-Based Materials for Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to C2+ Oxygenates: Recent Progress and Remaining Challenges ACS Catal. 2021 11 4 2076 2097
  64. 64
    Birdja Y. Y. Pérez-Gallent E. Figueiredo M. C. Göttle A. J. Calle-Vallejo F. Koper M. T. M. Advances and Challenges in Understanding the Electrocatalytic Conversion of Carbon Dioxide to Fuels Nat. Energy 2019 4 9 732 745
  65. 65
    Ji L. Chang L. Zhang Y. Mou S. Wang T. Luo Y. Wang Z. Sun X. Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction to Alcohols with High Selectivity over a Two-Dimensional Fe2P2S6 Nanosheet ACS Catal. 2019 9 11 9721 9725
  66. 66
    Thompson A. H. Whittingham M. S. Transition Metal Phosphorus Trisulfides as Battery Cathodes Mater. Res. Bull. 1977 12 7 741 744
  67. 67
    Brec R. Review on structural and chemical properties of transition metal phosphorous trisulfides MPS3 Solid State Ion. 1986 22 1 3 30
  68. 68
    Foot P. J. S. Katz T. Patel S. N. Nevett B. A. Pieecy A. R. Balchin A. A. The Structures and Conduction Mechanisms of Lithium-intercalated and Lithium-Substituted Nickel Phosphorus Trisulphide (NiPS3), and the Use of the Material as a Secondary Battery Electrode Phys. Status Solidi A 1987 100 1 11 29
  69. 69
    Rouxel J. Brec R. Low-Dimensional Chalcogenides as Secondary Cathodic Materials: Some Geometric and Electronic Aspects Annu. Rev. Mater. Sci. 1986 16 1 137 162
  70. 70
    Li X. Wu X. Yang J. Half-Metallicity in MnPSe3 Exfoliated Nanosheet with Carrier Doping J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014 136 31 11065 11069
  71. 71
    Cabria I. El-Meligi A. A. DFT Simulation of Hydrogen Storage on Manganese Phosphorous Trisulphide (MnPS3) Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 2018 43 11 5903 5912
  72. 72
    Kuzminskii Y. V. Voronin B. M. Redin N. N. Iron and Nickel Phosphorus Trisulfides as Electroactive Materials for Primary Lithium Batteries J. Power Sources 1995 55 2 133 141
  73. 73
    Kuzminskii Y. V. Voronin B. M. Petrushina I. M. Redin N. N. Prikhodko G. P. Nickel Phosphorus Trisulfide: An Electroactive Material for Medium-Temperature Lithium Batteries J. Power Sources 1995 55 1 1 6
  74. 74
    Liang Q. Zheng Y. Du C. Luo Y. Zhang J. Li B. Zong Y. Yan Q. General and Scalable Solid-State Synthesis of 2D MPS3 (M = Fe, Co, Ni) Nanosheets and Tuning Their Li/Na Storage Properties Small Methods 2017 1 12 1700304
  75. 75
    Fujii Y. Miura A. Rosero-Navarro N. C. Higuchi M. Tadanaga K. FePS3 Electrodes in All-Solid-State Lithium Secondary Batteries Using Sulfide-Based Solid Electrolytes Electrochim. Acta 2017 241 370 374
  76. 76
    Liang Q. Zheng Y. Du C. Luo Y. Zhao J. Ren H. Xu J. Yan Q. Asymmetric-Layered Tin Thiophosphate: An Emerging 2D Ternary Anode for High-Performance Sodium Ion Full Cell ACS Nano 2018 12 12 12902 12911
  77. 77
    Brec, R. , Review on Structural and Chemical Properties of Transition Metal Phosphorus Trisulfides MPS3. In Intercalation in Layered Materials; Dresselhaus, M. S. , Ed.; Springer US: Boston, MA, 1986; pp 93124.
  78. 78
    Clement R. P. Garnier O. Jegoudez J. Coordination Chemistry of the Lamellar MPS3 Materials: Metal-Ligand Cleavage as the Source of an Unusual Cation-Transfer Intercalation Process Inorg. Chem. 1986 25 1404 1409
  79. 79
    Wang F. He J. Speeding Protons with Metal Vacancies Science 2020 370 6516 525 526
  • Figure 1

    Figure 1. (a) The metal atoms and their valence states constituted in MPX3 crystals across the periodic table of elements. Filled blocks represent elements for which the layered MPX3 structure has been reported. (b) Schematic structure of MPX3 with [P2X6]4- bipyramids enclosing the metal atoms. The X layers are distinguished through Xtop and Xbottom.

    Figure 2

    Figure 2. (a) Schematic illustration of the CVT approach. (b-h) the digital images for the resulting MPX3 crystal.
    Reproduced with permission from ref ( 19). Copyright 2016, American Chemical Society.

    Figure 3

    Figure 3. (a) Schematic illustration for space confined chemical vapor conversion process. (b) AFM images of MPX3 nanosheets grown via this method ( 11, 24, 26, 27).

    Figure 4

    Figure 4. The VB maximum and CB minimum positions of various MPX3 monolayers calculated using HSE06 functional in DFT calculations, as well as the redox potentials (V vs Normal Hydrogen Electrode (NHE)) for water splitting and CO2 reduction at pH = 7 ( 2, 4, 43, 44).

    Figure 5

    Figure 5. Photocatalytic CO2 reduction on bilayer CuInP2S6 with schematic type-II band diagram.
    Reproduced with permission from ref ( 51). Copyright 2021, American Chemical Society.

    Figure 6

    Figure 6. Electrocatalytic HER activity on NiPS3/Ni2P electrode. a-b) Comparison of the linear sweep voltammetry profiles (a) and the corresponding Tafel plots (b) for the as-grown NiPS3, Ni2P, NiPS3/Ni2P electrodes. c) the Gibbs energy profile for H adsorption (ΔGH*) obtained at the equilibrium potential (U = 0 V) for the as-grown NiPS3/Ni2P, Ni2P (001), Ni2P (110), and NiPS3 (110). d) Charge density difference at the heterointerfaces between NiPS3 and Ni2P. The electron accumulation and depletion are marked with red and green, respectively. The grey, yellow, purple, and blue colors represent Ni, S, P, and H atoms, which are marked in, respectively.
    Reproduced with permission from ref ( 57). Copyright 2019, American Chemical Society.

    Figure 7

    Figure 7. (a) Overview of the primary pathways for CO2RR towards different products. b-c) Electrocatalytic CO2RR for different products at different potentials over Fe2P2S6 nanosheets (b), and optimized adsorption of CO2 molecular over Fe2P2S6 surface (c), in which red and blue regions represent positive and negative charges, respectively.
    Reproduced with permission from ref ( 65). Copyright 2019, American Chemical Society.

    Figure 8

    Figure 8. Expansion Δc/n in Li host intercalates as a function of the initial width of the van der Waals gap ( 69, 70, 71).

    Figure 9

    Figure 9. Electrochemical performance of NiPS3 nanosheet electrode used for Li-ion battery. (a) Cyclic voltammetric curves for the first four cycles at 0.1 mV/s. (b) The representative galvanostatic charge-discharge profiles for the four cycles at 0.05 A/g.
    Reproduced with permission from ref ( 74). Copyright 2017, Wiley-VCH.

    Figure 10

    Figure 10. Ion-exchange property in layered CdPS3 material as proton exchange membrane.
    Reproduced with permission from ref ( 79). Copyright 2020, Science.
  • References

    CHAPTER SECTIONS
    Jump To

    This chapter references 79 other publications.

    1. 1
      Chittari B. L. Park Y. Lee D. Han M. MacDonald A. H. Hwang E. Jung J. Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Single-Layer MPX3 Metal Phosphorous Trichalcogenides Phys. Rev. B 2016 94 18 184428
    2. 2
      Susner M. A. Chyasnavichyus M. McGuire M. A. Ganesh P. Maksymovych P. Metal Thio- and Selenophosphates as Multifunctional van der Waals Layered Materials Adv. Mater. 2017 29 38 1602852
    3. 3
      Samal R. Sanyal G. Chakraborty B. Rout C. S. Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Phosphorous Trichalcogenides (MPX3): A Review on Emerging Trends, Current State and Future Perspectives J. Mater. Chem. A 2021 9 5 2560 2591
    4. 4
      Wang F. Shifa T. A. Yu P. He P. Liu Y. Wang F. Wang Z. Zhan X. Lou X. Xia F. He J. New Frontiers on van der Waals Layered Metal Phosphorous Trichalcogenides Adv. Funct. Mater. 2018 28 37 1802151
    5. 5
      Friedel M. C. Soufre et ses composés—sur une nouvelle série de sulfophosphures, les thiohypophosphates CR l’Academie. Sci. Ser 1894 3 119 260
    6. 6
      Ouvrard G. Brec R. Rouxel J. Structural determination of some MPS3 layered phases (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni and Cd) Mater. Res. Bull. 1985 20 1181 1189
    7. 7
      Hwangbo K. Zhang Q. Jiang Q. Wang Y. Fonseca J. Wang C. Diederich G. M. Gamelin D. R. Xiao D. Chu J. H. Yao W. Xu X. Highly Anisotropic Excitons and Multiple Phonon Bound States in a van der Waals Antiferromagnetic Insulator Nat. Nanotechnol. 2021 16 6 655 660
    8. 8
      Kang S. Kim K. Kim B. H. Kim J. Sim K. I. Lee J. U. Lee S. Park K. Yun S. Kim T. Nag A. Walters A. Garcia-Fernandez M. Li J. Chapon L. Zhou K. J. Son Y. W. Kim J. H. Cheong H. Park J. G. Coherent Many-Body Exciton in van der Waals Antiferromagnet NiPS3 Nature 2020 583 7818 785 789
    9. 9
      Joy P. A. Vasudevan S. Magnetism in the Layered Transition-Metal Thiophosphates MPS3 (M=Mn, Fe, and Ni) Phys. Rev. B 1992 46 9 5425 5433
    10. 10
      Wildes A. R. Simonet V. Ressouche E. McIntyre G. J. Avdeev M. Suard E. Kimber S. A. J. Lançon D. Pepe G. Moubaraki B. Hicks T. J. Magnetic Structure of the Quasi-Two-Dimensional Antiferromagnet NiPS3 Phys. Rev. B 2015 92 22 224408
    11. 11
      Wang F. Mathur N. Janes A. N. Sheng H. He P. Zheng X. Yu P. DeRuiter A. J. Schmidt J. R. He J. Jin S. Defect-Mediated Ferromagnetism in Correlated Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Phosphorus Trisulfides Sci. Adv. 2021 7 43 eabj4086
    12. 12
      Wang X. Cao J. Lu Z. Cohen A. Kitadai H. Li T. Tan Q. Wilson M. Lui C. H. Smirnov D. Sharifzadeh S. Ling X. Spin-Induced Linear Polarization of Photoluminescence in Antiferromagnetic van der Waals Crystals Nat. Mater. 2021 20 7 964 970
    13. 13
      Kim K. Lim S. Y. Lee J. U. Lee S. Kim T. Y. Park K. Jeon G. S. Park C. H. Park J. G. Cheong H. Suppression of Magnetic Ordering in XXZ-Type Antiferromagnetic Monolayer NiPS3 Nat. Commun. 2019 10 1 345
    14. 14
      Belianinov A. He Q. Dziaugys A. Maksymovych P. Eliseev E. Borisevich A. Morozovska A. Banys J. Vysochanskii Y. Kalinin S. V. CuInP2S6 Room Temperature Layered Ferroelectric Nano Lett. 2015 15 6 3808 3814
    15. 15
      Dziaugys A. Banys J. Macutkevic J. Sobiestianskas R. Vysochanskii Y. Dipolar Glass Phase in Ferrielectrics: CuInP2S6 and Ag0.1Cu0.9InP2S6 Crystals Phys. Status Solidi A 2010 207 8 1960 1967
    16. 16
      Silipigni L. Schiro L. Scolaro L. M. De Luca G. Salvato G. Lithium Ions Conduction in Li2xMn1-xPS3 Films Philos. Mag. 2014 94 35 4026 4036
    17. 17
      Kuzminskii Y. V. Voronin B. M. Redin N. N. Iron and Nickel Phosphorus Trisulfides as Electroactive Materials for Primary Lithium Batteries J. Power Sources 1995 55 2 133 141
    18. 18
      Qian X. Chen L. Yin L. Liu Z. Pei S. Li F. Hou G. Chen S. Song L. Thebo K. H. Cheng H. M. Ren W. CdPS3 Nanosheets-Based Membrane with High Proton Conductivity Enabled by Cd Vacancies Science 2020 370 6516 596 600
    19. 19
      Du K. Z. Wang X. Z. Liu Y. Hu P. Utama M. I. Gan C. K. Xiong Q. Kloc C. Weak Van der Waals Stacking, Wide-Range Band Gap, and Raman Study on Ultrathin Layers of Metal Phosphorus Trichalcogenides ACS Nano 2016 10 2 1738 1743
    20. 20
      Nitsche R. Wild P. Crystal Growth of Metal-Phosphorus-Sulfur Compounds by Vapor Transport Mater. Res. Bull. 1970 5 6 419 423
    21. 21
      Gusmao R. Sofer Z. Pumera M. Metal Phosphorous Trichalcogenides (MPCh3 ): From Synthesis to Contemporary Energy Challenges Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 2019 58 28 9326 9337
    22. 22
      Gave M. A. Bilc D. Mahanti S. D. Breshears J. D. Kanatzidis M. G. On the Lamellar Compounds CuBiP2Se6, AgBiP2Se6 and AgBiP2S6. Antiferroelectric Phase Transitions due to Cooperative Cu+ and Bi3+ Ion Motion Inorg. Chem. 2005 44 15 5293 5303
    23. 23
      Wang F. Shifa T. A. He P. Cheng Z. Chu J. Liu Y. Wang Z. Wang F. Wen Y. Liang L. He J. Two-Dimensional Metal Phosphorus Trisulfide Nanosheet with Solar Hydrogen-Evolving Activity Nano Energy 2017 40 673 680
    24. 24
      Yu P. Meng J. Wang F. Sendeku M. G. Wu B. Sui X. Gao N. Zhan X. Lou X. Wang Z. He J. Carbonate-Ion-Mediated Photogenerated Hole Transfer to Boost Hydrogen Production J. Phys. Chem. C 2022 126 25 10367 10377
    25. 25
      Zhou J. Zhu C. Zhou Y. Dong J. Li P. Zhang Z. Wang Z. Lin Y. C. Shi J. Zhang R. Zheng Y. Yu H. Tang B. Liu F. Wang L. Liu L. Liu G. B. Hu W. Gao Y. Yang H. Gao W. Lu L. Wang Y. Suenaga K. Liu G. Ding F. Yao Y. Liu Z. Composition and Phase Engineering of Metal Chalcogenides and Phosphorous Chalcogenides Nat. Mater. 2022
      https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-022-01291-5.
    26. 26
      Sendeku M. G. Wang F. Cheng Z. Yu P. Gao N. Zhan X. Wang Z. He J. Nonlayered Tin Thiohypodiphosphate Nanosheets: Controllable Growth and Solar-Light-Driven Water Splitting ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2021 13 11 13392 13399
    27. 27
      Shifa T. A. Wang F. Cheng Z. He P. Liu Y. Jiang C. Wang Z. He J. High Crystal Quality 2D Manganese Phosphorus Trichalcogenide Nanosheets and Their Photocatalytic Activity Adv. Funct. Mater. 2018 28 18 1800548
    28. 28
      Zhu W. Gan W. Muhammad Z. Wang C. Wu C. Liu H. Liu D. Zhang K. He Q. Jiang H. Zheng X. Sun Z. Chen S. Song L. Exfoliation of Ultrathin FePS3 Layers as a Promising Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction Chem. Commun. 2018 54 35 4481 4484
    29. 29
      Sang Y. Wang L. Cao X. Ding G. Ding Y. Hao Y. Xu N. Yu H. Li L. Peng S. Emerging 2D-Layered MnPS3/rGO Composite as a Superior Anode for Sodium-Ion Batteries J. Alloys Compd. 2020 831 154775
    30. 30
      Liu J. Li X. B. Wang D. Lau W.-M. Peng P. Liu L.-M. Diverse and Tunable Electronic Structures of Single-layer Metal Phosphorus Trichalcogenides for Photocatalytic Water Splitting J. Chem. Phys. 2014 140 5 054707
    31. 31
      Mukherjee D. Austeria M. P. Sampath S. Few-Layer Iron Selenophosphate, FePSe3: Efficient Electrocatalyst toward Water Splitting and Oxygen Reduction Reactions ACS Appl. Energy Mater. 2018 1 1 220 231
    32. 32
      Mukherjee D. Austeria P. M. Sampath S. Two-Dimensional, Few-Layer Phosphochalcogenide, FePS3: A New Catalyst for Electrochemical Hydrogen Evolution over Wide pH Range ACS Energy Lett. 2016 1 2 367 372
    33. 33
      Jenjeti R. N. Kumar R. Sampath S. Two-Dimensional, Few-layer NiPS3 for Flexible Humidity Sensor with High Selectivity J. Mater. Chem. A 2019 7 24 14545 14551
    34. 34
      Song B. Li K. Yin Y. Wu T. Dang L. Caban-Acevedo M. Han J. Gao T. Wang X. Zhang Z. Schmidt J. R. Xu P. Jin S. Tuning Mixed Nickel Iron Phosphosulfide Nanosheet Electrocatalysts for Enhanced Hydrogen and Oxygen Evolution ACS Catal. 2017 7 12 8549 8557
    35. 35
      Cheng Z. Shifa T. A. Wang F. Gao Y. He P. Zhang K. Jiang C. Liu Q. He J. High-Yield Production of Monolayer FePS3 Quantum Sheets via Chemical Exfoliation for Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Adv. Mater. 2018 30 26 1707433
    36. 36
      Dinh Hoa L. Thanh Luan P. Ghimire G. Dinh Loc D. Lee Y. H. Revealing Antiferromagnetic Transition of van der Waals MnPS3 via Vertical Tunneling Electrical Resistance Measurement APL Mater. 2019 7 8 081102
    37. 37
      Wang J. Li X. Wei B. Sun R. Yu W. Hoh H. Y. Xu H. Li J. Ge X. Chen Z. Su C. Wang Z. Activating Basal Planes of NiPS3 for Hydrogen Evolution by Nonmetal Heteroatom Doping Adv. Funct. Mater. 2020 30 12 1908708
    38. 38
      Li X. Fang Y. Wang J. Wei B. Qi K. Hoh H. Y. Hao Q. Sun T. Wang Z. Yin Z. Zhang Y. Lu J. Bao Q. Su C. High-Yield Electrochemical Production of Large-Sized and Thinly Layered NiPS3 Flakes for Overall Water Splitting Small 2019 15 30 1902427
    39. 39
      Sekine T. Jouanne M. Julien C. Balkanski M. Raman Scattering in the Antiferromagnet FePS3 Intercalated with Lithium Mater. Sci. Eng. B Solid State Mater. Adv. Technol. 1989 3 1−2 91 95
    40. 40
      Fujishima A. Honda K. Electrochemical Photolysis of Water at a Semiconductor Electrode Nature 1972 238 5358 37 38
    41. 41
      Nakata K. Fujishima A. TiO2 Photocatalysis: Design and Applications J. Photochem. Photobiol. C 2012 13 3 169 189
    42. 42
      Chiesa P. Consonni S. Kreutz T. Williams R. Co-Production of Hydrogen, Electricity and CO2 from Coal with Commercially Ready Technology. PartA: Performance and Emissions Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 2005 30 7 747 767
    43. 43
      Zhang X. Zhao X. Wu D. Jing Y. Zhou Z. MnPSe3 Monolayer: A Promising 2D Visible-Light Photohydrolytic Catalyst with High Carrier Mobility Adv. Sci. 2016 3 10 1600062
    44. 44
      Yu P. Wang F. Meng J. Shifa T. A. Sendeku M. G. Fang J. Li S. Cheng Z. Lou X. He J. Few-Layered CuInP2S6 Nanosheet with Sulfur Vacancy Boosting Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution CrystEngComm 2021 591 598
    45. 45
      Navarro R. M. Sánchez-Sánchez M. C. Alvarez-Galvan M. C. Valle F. d. Fierro J. L. G. Hydrogen Production from Renewable Sources: Biomass and Photocatalytic Opportunities Energy Environ. Sci. 2009 2 1 35 54
    46. 46
      Shimura K. Yoshida H. Heterogeneous Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production from Water and Biomass Derivatives Energy Environ. Sci. 2011 4 7 2467 2481
    47. 47
      Zhang Y. Zhao Y. Bao C. Xiao Y. Xiang Y. Song M. Huang W. Ma L. Hou H. Chen X. Facile synthesis of cadmium phosphorus trisulfide nanosheets for highly efficient photocatalytic performance J. Alloys Compd. 2022 909 164731
    48. 48
      Cheng Z. Sendeku M. G. Liu Q. Layered Metal Phosphorous Trichalcogenides Nanosheets: Facile Synthesis and Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Nanotechnology 2020 31 13 135405
    49. 49
      Chang X. Wang T. Gong J. CO2 Photo-reduction: Insights into CO2 Activation and Reaction on Surfaces of Photocatalysts Energy Environ. Sci. 2016 9 7 2177 2196
    50. 50
      Gao W. Li S. He H. Li X. Cheng Z. Yang Y. Wang J. Shen Q. Wang X. Xiong Y. Zhou Y. Zou Z. Vacancy-Defect Modulated Pathway of Photoreduction of CO2 on Single Atomically Thin AgInP2S6 Sheets into Olefiant Gas Nat. Commun. 2021 12 1 4747
    51. 51
      Fan Y. Song X. Ai H. Li W. Zhao M. Highly Efficient Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction in Two-Dimensional Ferroelectric CuInP2S6 Bilayers ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2021 13 29 34486 34494
    52. 52
      De Battisti, A.; Martínez-Huitle, C. A. , Electrocatalysis in Wastewater Treatment. In Electrochemical Water and Wastewater Treatment; Martínez-Huitle, C. A., Rodrigo, M. A., Scialdone, O. , Eds.; Butterworth-Heinemann: 2018; pp 119131.
    53. 53
      de Freitas Araujo K. C. da Silva D. R. dos Santos E. V. Varela H. Martinez-Huitle C. A. Investigation of Persulfate Production on BDD Anode by Understanding the Impact of Water Concentration J. Electroanal. Chem. 2020 860 113927
    54. 54
      Huang H. Li F. Xue Q. Zhang Y. Yin S. Chen Y. Salt-Templated Construction of Ultrathin Cobalt Doped Iron Thiophosphite Nanosheets toward Electrochemical Ammonia Synthesis Small 2019 15 51 1903500
    55. 55
      Mayorga-Martinez C. C. Sofer Z. Sedmidubsky D. Huber S. Eng A. Y. Pumera M. Layered Metal Thiophosphite Materials: Magnetic, Electrochemical, and Electronic Properties ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2017 9 14 12563 12573
    56. 56
      Yu Z. Peng J. Liu Y. Liu W. Liu H. Guo Y. Amine-Assisted Exfoliation and Electrical Conductivity Modulation Toward Few-layer FePS3 Nanosheets for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution J. Mater. Chem. A 2019 7 23 13928 13934
    57. 57
      Lian Q. Zhong L. Du C. Luo Y. Zhao J. Zheng Y. Xu J. Ma J. Liu C. Li S. Yan Q. Interfacing Epitaxial Dinickel Phosphide to 2D Nickel Thiophosphate Nanosheets for Boosting Electrocatalytic Water Splitting ACS Nano 2019 13 7 7975 7984
    58. 58
      Gusmão R. Sofer Z. Sedmidubský D. Huber Š. Pumera M. The Role of the Metal Element in Layered Metal Phosphorus Triselenides upon Their Electrochemical Sensing and Energy Applications ACS Catal. 2017 7 12 8159 8170
    59. 59
      Hao Y. Huang A. Han S. Huang H. Song J. Sun X. Wang Z. Li L. Hu F. Xue J. Peng S. Plasma-Treated Ultrathin Ternary FePSe3 Nanosheets as a Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Efficient Zinc–Air Batteries ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2020 12 26 29393 29403
    60. 60
      Konkena B. Masa J. Botz A. J. R. Sinev I. Xia W. Koßmann J. Drautz R. Muhler M. Schuhmann W. Metallic NiPS3@NiOOH Core–Shell Heterostructures as Highly Efficient and Stable Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction ACS Catal. 2017 7 1 229 237
    61. 61
      Bushuyev O. S. De Luna P. Dinh C. T. Tao L. Saur G. van de Lagemaat J. Kelley S. O. Sargent E. H. What Should We Make with CO2 and How Can We Make It ? Joule 2018 2 5 825 832
    62. 62
      Nitopi S. Bertheussen E. Scott S. B. Liu X. Y. Engstfeld A. K. Horch S. Seger B. Stephens I. E. L. Chan K. Hahn C. Norskov J. K. Jaramillo T. F. Chorkendorff I. Progress and Perspectives of Electrochemical CO2 Reduction on Copper in Aqueous Electrolyte Chem. Rev. 2019 119 12 7610 7672
    63. 63
      Zhao K. Quan X. Carbon-Based Materials for Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to C2+ Oxygenates: Recent Progress and Remaining Challenges ACS Catal. 2021 11 4 2076 2097
    64. 64
      Birdja Y. Y. Pérez-Gallent E. Figueiredo M. C. Göttle A. J. Calle-Vallejo F. Koper M. T. M. Advances and Challenges in Understanding the Electrocatalytic Conversion of Carbon Dioxide to Fuels Nat. Energy 2019 4 9 732 745
    65. 65
      Ji L. Chang L. Zhang Y. Mou S. Wang T. Luo Y. Wang Z. Sun X. Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction to Alcohols with High Selectivity over a Two-Dimensional Fe2P2S6 Nanosheet ACS Catal. 2019 9 11 9721 9725
    66. 66
      Thompson A. H. Whittingham M. S. Transition Metal Phosphorus Trisulfides as Battery Cathodes Mater. Res. Bull. 1977 12 7 741 744
    67. 67
      Brec R. Review on structural and chemical properties of transition metal phosphorous trisulfides MPS3 Solid State Ion. 1986 22 1 3 30
    68. 68
      Foot P. J. S. Katz T. Patel S. N. Nevett B. A. Pieecy A. R. Balchin A. A. The Structures and Conduction Mechanisms of Lithium-intercalated and Lithium-Substituted Nickel Phosphorus Trisulphide (NiPS3), and the Use of the Material as a Secondary Battery Electrode Phys. Status Solidi A 1987 100 1 11 29
    69. 69
      Rouxel J. Brec R. Low-Dimensional Chalcogenides as Secondary Cathodic Materials: Some Geometric and Electronic Aspects Annu. Rev. Mater. Sci. 1986 16 1 137 162
    70. 70
      Li X. Wu X. Yang J. Half-Metallicity in MnPSe3 Exfoliated Nanosheet with Carrier Doping J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014 136 31 11065 11069
    71. 71
      Cabria I. El-Meligi A. A. DFT Simulation of Hydrogen Storage on Manganese Phosphorous Trisulphide (MnPS3) Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 2018 43 11 5903 5912
    72. 72
      Kuzminskii Y. V. Voronin B. M. Redin N. N. Iron and Nickel Phosphorus Trisulfides as Electroactive Materials for Primary Lithium Batteries J. Power Sources 1995 55 2 133 141
    73. 73
      Kuzminskii Y. V. Voronin B. M. Petrushina I. M. Redin N. N. Prikhodko G. P. Nickel Phosphorus Trisulfide: An Electroactive Material for Medium-Temperature Lithium Batteries J. Power Sources 1995 55 1 1 6
    74. 74
      Liang Q. Zheng Y. Du C. Luo Y. Zhang J. Li B. Zong Y. Yan Q. General and Scalable Solid-State Synthesis of 2D MPS3 (M = Fe, Co, Ni) Nanosheets and Tuning Their Li/Na Storage Properties Small Methods 2017 1 12 1700304
    75. 75
      Fujii Y. Miura A. Rosero-Navarro N. C. Higuchi M. Tadanaga K. FePS3 Electrodes in All-Solid-State Lithium Secondary Batteries Using Sulfide-Based Solid Electrolytes Electrochim. Acta 2017 241 370 374
    76. 76
      Liang Q. Zheng Y. Du C. Luo Y. Zhao J. Ren H. Xu J. Yan Q. Asymmetric-Layered Tin Thiophosphate: An Emerging 2D Ternary Anode for High-Performance Sodium Ion Full Cell ACS Nano 2018 12 12 12902 12911
    77. 77
      Brec, R. , Review on Structural and Chemical Properties of Transition Metal Phosphorus Trisulfides MPS3. In Intercalation in Layered Materials; Dresselhaus, M. S. , Ed.; Springer US: Boston, MA, 1986; pp 93124.
    78. 78
      Clement R. P. Garnier O. Jegoudez J. Coordination Chemistry of the Lamellar MPS3 Materials: Metal-Ligand Cleavage as the Source of an Unusual Cation-Transfer Intercalation Process Inorg. Chem. 1986 25 1404 1409
    79. 79
      Wang F. He J. Speeding Protons with Metal Vacancies Science 2020 370 6516 525 526