Fig. 7: Ex-situ XPS data on Mo3S13-NCNT before/after HER experiments.

High-resolution Mo 3d (a–c) and S 2p (d–f) XPS spectra Mo3S13-NCNT before electrochemistry (a, d) and after HER preconditioning (b, e) followed by start-up/shut-down stress tests (c, f). Labels: cumulative peak fit (black), Mo4+ 3d5/2:3/2 (light blue), MoaObSc 3d5/2:3/2 (blue), Mo6+ 3d5/2:3/2 (dark blue), S 2p3/2:1/2 (S2−, yellow), S 2p3/2:1/2 (S22−, orange) and S 2p3/2:1/2 (SOxy-, red).