Phase-Controlled 1T Transition-Metal Dichalcogenide-Based Multidimensional Hybrid Nanostructures

Metallic-phase transition-metal dichalcogenides(TMDCs)exhibit unusual physicochemical properties compared with their semiconducting counterparts.However,they are thermodynamically unstable to access and it is even more challenging to construct their metastable-phase heterostructures.Herein,we demonstrate a general solution protocol for phase-controlled synthesis of distorted octahedral 1T WS2-based(1T structure denotes an octahedral coordination for W atom)multidimensional hybrid nanostructures from two-dimensional(2D),one-dimensional(1D),and zero-dimensional(0D)templates.This is realized by tuning the reactivity of tungsten precursor and the interaction between crystal surface and ligands.As a conceptual study on crystal phase-and dimensionality-dependent applications,we find that the three-dimensional(3D)hierarchical architectures achieved,comprising 1T WS2 and 2D Ni3S4,are very active and stable for catalyzing hydrogen evolution.Our results open up a new way to rationally design phase-controlled nanostructures with increased complexity and more elaborate functionalities.