Confined growth of pyridinic N–Mo2C sites on MXenes for hydrogen evolution. Issue 15 (2nd April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Hao; Lin, Yanping; Liu, Shuyuan; Li, Jianmin; Bu, Liangmin; Chen, Jianmei; Xiao, Xu; Choi, Jin-Ho; Gao, Lijun; Lee, Jong-Min
• Is Part Of: Journal of materials chemistry. Volume 8:Issue 15(2020)
• Page Start: 7109
• Page End: 7116
• Publication Date: 2020-04-02
• Subjects: Materials -- Research -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Analytic -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 543.0284
• DOI: 10.1039/d0ta01697g
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-7488

Abstract

Abstract : A hybrid of N-doped carbon encapsulated ultrasmall Mo2 C nanodots on Ti3 C2 T x MXene exhibits excellent HER performance in the entire pH range. Abstract : Developing low-cost and high-performance hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts is a key research area for scalable hydrogen production from water electrolysis. Here, a hybrid of nitrogen-doped carbon encapsulated Mo2 C nanodots on Ti3 C2 T x MXene (Mo2 C/Ti3 C2 T x @NC) is developed through in situ polymerization of dopamine and a Mo precursor on the Ti3 C2 T x MXene surface. During the annealing treatment, the polydopamine plays multiple roles in forming N-doped carbon, confining MoO4 2− ions into ultrasmall Mo2 C nanodots, and stabilizing the MXene flakes against spontaneous oxidation. The as-synthesized hybrid exhibits excellent HER activity in acidic electrolyte with an overpotential of 53 mV at 10 mA cm −2 and excellent stability over 30 hours. The combination of experiments and simulations demonstrates that pyridinic N-doped carbon coated Mo2 C nanodots serve as the active sites and Ti3 C2 T x MXene facilitates the charge transfer, synergistically contributing to the superior HER performance.