Nanoporous molybdenum dioxide on pencil graphite electrode as high effective electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction

• Published in: Journal of the Iranian Chemical Society 2019-10, Vol.16 (10), p.2065-2070
• Main Authors: Pourbeyram, Sima, Ranjbar, Mahnaz, Soltanpour, Maryam
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analytical Chemistry; Biochemistry; Catalysis; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Dioxides; Electrodeposition; Electrodes; Electrolysis; Graphite; Hydrogen evolution reactions; Hydrogen production; Inorganic Chemistry; Molybdenum; Molybdenum oxides; Morphology; Organic Chemistry; Original Paper; Physical Chemistry
• ISSN: 1735-207X; 1735-2428
• DOI: 10.1007/s13738-019-01674-7

In this paper, we presented a really simple, cheap and fast preparation method for direct electrodeposition of MoO 2 on the pencil graphite electrode (PGE) as hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst with a high current density at a low overpotential. PGE was modified by molybdenum dioxide (MoO 2 ) nanoporous via simple electrodeposition technique by electroreduction of Mo(VI) to Mo(IV) on the PGE. X-ray diffraction analysis showed a monoclinic structure of MoO 2 on the PGE. MoO 2 nanoporous morphology on the PGE was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. The MoO 2 /PGE exhibited a small overpotential of 150 mV toward HER, close to the thermodynamic potential already observed on the Pt wire. The long-term stability of the MoO 2 –PGE was proved by extended electrolysis at overpotential of 200 mV with negligible degradation of catalytic current after 10 h. According to the obtained results, this developed method has high ability to use in clean hydrogen production technologies.