Giant polyoxomolybdate clusters -derived bimetallic Ni/Mo2C catalyst for electrochemical hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Developing stable and efficient electrocatalysts to produce clean energy sources is an impressive way to solve energy crisis problems. Herein, electrocatalysts of nickel and Mo2C nanoparticles painted with N-doped carbon layers (Ni/Mo2C@NC) were prepared based on the giant polyoxomolybdate clusters of ((NH4)42[Mo132O372(CH3COO)30(H2O)72]·10CH3COONH4·300H2O) (Mo132). Ni/Mo2C@NC shows outstanding electrocatalytic hydrogen generation activity and stability with overpotentials of 107 and 125 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in 1 M KOH and 0.5 M H2SO4. This article offers a general way for preparing transition metal combined molybdenum carbide electrocatalysts applied in sustainable energy generation and conversion fields.