We ascribed this effect to the preferred formation and protection of 1T-MoS 2 phase from the transformation to more stable 2H-MoS 2 phase during hydrogen evolution reaction processing triggered by the inserted peptides species. In this study, we report that intercalation of histidine amino acid fragments, formed via the thermal decomposition of amino acid to the low molecular weight planar peptide species –C α–CO–N–C α–, in an inter sheet space of nanostructured MoS 2 during the hydrothermal synthesis results in the surprisingly high hydrogen evolution reaction catalytic activity and stability. Hybridization of layered 2D molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2) films via intercalation of guest molecules and ions has recently emerged as a powerful tool to enhance its catalytic activity and stability of electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction.
