Synthesis of nano‐coral tungsten carbide/carbon fibers as efficient catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

Tungsten-carbides (WxC) are cermet materials that exhibit different unique characteristics, such as supper strength, good thermal conductivity, and electrical conductivity as well as good catalytic activity. In this study, we report a facile and scalable process using the electrospinning technique to grow a unique structure which is nano-coral tungsten carbine (W2C) on carbon fibers. The crystallinity, structure, morphology, and chemical bonding of W2C are characterized by using different techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectra, field-emission scanning microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results confirm that the nano-coral structure of W2C is successfully prepared. Specifically, the diameter and length of nano-coral W2C are about 70 ~ 100 nm and 1 ~ 2 μm, respectively. Nano-coral W2C could be employed for electrocatalytic application including hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Notably, nano-coral W2C shows the efficiency of electrocatalytic activity toward HER, with low Tafel slope of 79 mV.dec−1, high double-layer capacitance of 3.2 mF.cm−2, and exceptional stability under working conditions for 1000 cycles test. Therefore, this study presents an approach for the preparation of nano-coral W2C and demonstrates their potential as scalable and stable catalysts for the HER.