Thus, a significant improvement of the TMDCs can be achieved by reducing steps and dislocations (recombination centers) at vdW planes, which limit the quantum efficiency of photoelectrochemical cells. This requires either single crystals with perfect (00.1) electrode surfaces, or a method to passivate surface states of a polycrystalline TMDC film. In earlier works, the charge transfer kinetics through the semiconductor/electrolyte interface could significantly be improved by photoetching of the defects, or by electrochemical or photoelectrochemical deposition of platinum nanoparticles, respectively.