High‐Performance Alkaline Freshwater and Seawater Hydrogen Catalysis by Sword‐Head Structured Mo2N‐Ni3Mo3N Tunable Interstitial Compound Electrocatalysts

Abstract

AbstractRealizing efficient electrocatalysts is a stepping stone toward achieving high‐performance alkaline water/seawater electrolysis, but remains a crucial challenge. Herein, heterogeneous Mo2N/Ni3Mo3N electrocatalysts on nickel foam (denoted MN‐NMN/NF) that is stable and active for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in both alkaline water/seawater are demonstrated. The optimized MN‐NMN09/NF achieves an ultralow HER overpotential of 11 mV@10 mA cm−2 in 1.0 m KOH electrolyte, which is not only superior to the benchmark Pt/C catalysts but also the best reported ever among NiMo‐based electrocatalysts in an alkaline environment. Successively, the optimized MN‐NMN09/NF electrocatalyst can drive HER current densities of 10 and 500 mA cm−2 using low overpotentials of 9.37 and 123 mV in 1.0 m KOH seawater electrolyte, which remains durable after 120 h long‐term electrolysis at a constant current density of 500 mA cm−2. In situ Raman analysis reveals that the enhanced performance is attributed to the accelerated H2O adsorption and OH dissociation processes on the MN‐NMN surfaces. Theoretical analysis further confirms that rapid H2O adsorption‐dissociation kinetics and H adsorption‐conversion kinetics on the Ni3Mo3N/NiOOH and Ni3Mo3N/MoOx surfaces result in boosted HER capability. This work depicts a significant potential for designing stable and efficient hydrogen production electrocatalysts for both alkaline water and seawater electrolysis.