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Abstract Amorphization is an efficient strategy to activate intrinsically inert catalysts. However, the low crystallinity of amorphous catalysts often causes high solubility and poor electrochemical stability in aqueous solution. Here, a different mechanism is developed to simultaneously stabilize and activate the water‐soluble amorphous MoS x O y via a charge‐balancing strategy, which is induced by different electronegativity between the co‐dopants Rh (2.28) and Sn (1.96). The electron‐rich Sn prefers to stabilize the unstable apical O sites in MoS x O y through charge transfer, which can prevent the H from attacking. Meanwhile, the Rh, as the charge regulator, shifts the main active sites on the basal plane from inert Sn to active apical Rh sites. As a result, the amorphous RhSn‐MoS x O y exhibits drastic enhancement in electrochemical stability (η 10 increases only by 12 mV) after 1000 cycles and a distinct activity (η 10 : 26 mV and Tafel: 30.8 mV dec −1 ) for the hydrogen evolution reaction in acidic solution. This work paves a route for turning impracticably water‐soluble catalysts into treasure and inspires new ideas to design high‐performance amorphous electrocatalysts.
Zhou et al. (Fri,) studied this question.