In situ synthesis of molybdenum carbide/N-doped carbon hybrids as an efficient hydrogen-evolution electrocatalyst

The development of non-precious metal based electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) has received more and more attention over recent years owing to energy and environmental issues, and Mo based materials have been explored as a promising candidate. In this work, molybdenum carbide...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:RSC advances 2018-01, Vol.8 (31), p.17202-17208
Main Authors: Li, Jing, Zhou, Chenmin, Mu, Jianshuai, Yang, En-Cui, Zhao, Xiao-Jun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ammonium molybdate
Carbon
Chemistry
Electrocatalysts
Electron transport
Hydrogen evolution reactions
Molybdenum
Molybdenum carbide
Nanoparticles
Pyrolysis
Synergistic effect
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Summary:The development of non-precious metal based electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) has received more and more attention over recent years owing to energy and environmental issues, and Mo based materials have been explored as a promising candidate. In this work, molybdenum carbide/N-doped carbon hybrids (Mo C@NC) were synthesized facilely one-step high-temperature pyrolysis by adjusting the mass ratio of urea and ammonium molybdate. The Mo C@NC consisted of ultrasmall nanoparticles encapsulated by N-doped carbon, which had high specific surface area. They all exhibited efficient HER activity, and the Mo C@NC with a mass ratio of 160 (Mo C@NC-160) showed the best HER activity, with a low overpotential of 90 mV to reach 10 mA cm and a small Tafel slope of 50 mV dec , which was one of the most active reported Mo C-based electrocatalysts. The excellent HER activity of Mo C@NC-160 was attributed to the following features: (1) the highly dispersed ultrasmall Mo C nanoparticles, which exhibited high electrochemically active surface areas; (2) the synergistic effect of the N-doped carbon shell/matrix, which facilitated the electron transport.
ISSN:2046-2069
2046-2069
DOI:10.1039/c8ra02020e