Construction of hierarchical Mo2C nanoparticles onto hollow N-doped carbon polyhedrons for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction. (20th October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chai, Lulu; Zhang, Linjie; Wang, Xian; Ma, Zuju; Li, Ting-Ting; Li, Huan; Hu, Yue; Qian, Jinjie; Huang, Shaoming
• Is Part Of: Electrochimica acta. Volume 321(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-10-20
• Subjects: Metal-organic framework -- Hollow N-Doped carbon polyhedrons -- Molybdenum carbide -- Carbon materials -- Hydrogen evolution reaction; Electrochemistry -- Periodicals; Electrochemistry, Industrial -- Periodicals; 541.37
• DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2019.134680
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-4686

Abstract

Abstract: In the field of renewable energy, the core of advanced materials lies in the efficiency for the electrocatalytic and photoelectrochemical overall water splitting. However, in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), there is a lack of electrocatalysts based transition metals of high-performance and natural-abundance, and thus there is a formidable challenge for large-scale application. Therefore, molybdenum carbide (Mo2 C) based catalysts and their composites are regarded as a most promising and replacement noble metal electrocatalyst for the HER in different media about all pH. In this work, the preparation of ultra-fine Mo2 C nanoparticles, which uniformly implant into hollow N-doped carbon polyhedrons (Mo2 C@HNCPs) by adopting MOF-assisted self-sacrifice template approach, is proposed. Mo2 C@HNCPs showcases suitable catalytic activity and feasible stability toward HER in both media such as acidic and alkaline solutions. The as-prepared Mo2 C@HNCPs exhibits effective and fast response from the HER region with nearly 0.0 V onset overpotentials, only requiring 89 mV (0.5 M H2 SO4 media) and 87 mV (1.0 M KOH media) overpotential to reach 10 mA cm −2 and cycling stability (<5% performance loss after 10 h). Such distinctive activity of HER is mainly imputed to the poly-dispersion of the ultra-fine Mo2 C nanoparticles and its synergistic contribution of rich nitrogen doping, unique hollow morphology, and abundant active sites at the heterostructures. Graphical abstract: The synthesis of ultra-fine Mo2 C nanoparticles is uniformly embedded into hollow N-doped carbon polyhedrons (Mo2 C@HNCPs) by a MOF-assisted self-sacrifice template approach. As the HER electrocatalyst, Mo2 C@HNCPs shows better catalytic activity and feasible stability toward HER in both acidic and alkaline media. Such HER activity is attributed to the ultra-fine Mo2 C nanoparticles and synergistic contribution of nitrogen doping, unique hollow structure, and abundant active sites at the heterostructures.Image 1 Highlights: A new approach of the MOF-assisted self-sacrifice template is successfully obtained and outlined. Ultra-fine Mo2 C nanoparticles are uniformly embedded into hollow N-doped carbon polyhedrons by a simple thermal treatment. The as-obtained catalyst (Mo2 C@HNCPs) is of better HER performance and long-term stability in the real application.