General synthesis of nanostructured Mo2C electrocatalysts using a carbon template for electrocatalytic applications

Abstract

Cost-effective and high-active electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are crucial to sustainable hydrogen generation. Because of the intrinsic Pt-like electronic structure and unique catalytic properties, Mo2C is a promising alternative to Pt-based catalysts. However, synthesis of Mo2C catalysts remains challenging on loss of active sites from structural collapse and sintering at high temperatures. Herein, a facile technique is described to synthesize robust nanostructured Mo2C with a carbon template morphology by salt-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The highly active metallic vapor precursor generated from the mixture of MoO3 and NaCl facilitates conversion of carbon template into carbide via a novel interface induced propagating synthesis mechanism. The obtained nanostructured Mo2C catalyst has high purity and crystallinity in addition to excellent electrocatalytic activity and stability in both alkaline and acidic media. The results demonstrate a promising synthetic strategy to construct high-quality nanostructured Mo2C and the technique can be extended to other carbide-based electrocatalysts for other energy-related applications.