Porous Mo2C nanorods as an efficient catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

Generate hydrogen fuel from electrochemical water splitting has been considered as a promising approach. However, to obtain the low-cost and high performance catalysts towards hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) which can be applied in both alkaline and acid solution remains a challenge. Herein, we synthesized an active and stable HER catalyst composed of Mo2C nanocrystals embedded in the nanocarbon layers (Mo2C@C) by using MoO3 nanorods as precursor. Benefiting from the porous one dimensional structure and ultrafine Mo2C nanocrystals, Mo2C@C exhibits high HER catalytic activity for 10 mA cm−2with the overpotential of 119 mV in 1 M KOH solution and 170 mV in 0.5 M H2SO4solution, respectively. Moreover, Mo2C@C displays long durability during the HER process with almost no decay and maintains the porous one dimensional architecture after the HER stability test. This study offers the guideline for the further design and fabrication of the nanostructured HER electrocatalysts in wide pH range.