Two-dimensional materials for cost effective catalysts

Two dimensional (2D) materials are emerging with far-reaching potential for technical and industrial applications. Thanks to recent developments and improvement of production technologies, functionalization and scalable production of these cost-effective materials is becoming a reality, paving the way for their high volume applications. In this talk, after a brief review of current opportunities and challenges, I will discuss efforts at manipulating the chemical properties of two such materials for catalytic applications: single-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS$_2$) and hexagonal boron nitride (\textit{h}-BN). I will show that the basal plane of single-layer MoS$_2$, which is inherently inert, can serve as a ground for alcohol synthesis from syngas (combination of CO and H$_2$) in the presence of vacancies. Its reactivity and selectivity can be further optimized by tuning the location of frontier orbitals via the geometry of the vacancy clusters, and interface with a transition metal support. On the other hand, defect-laden basal plane of \textit{h}-BN is found to be a metal-free catalyst for hydrogenation of olefins, which has great potential in variety of industrial applications.