Synthesis of optically active chiral mesoporous molybdenum carbide film

Abstract

A chiral nematic mesoporous molybdenum carbide film (CN-Mo2C) was fabricated through the self-assembly of cellulose nanocrystal with peroxomolybdate. CN-Mo2C exhibits a tunable chiral nematic structure by varying the ratio of constituents, enabling a surface area of 210m2g−1. Importantly, it shows a typical chiroptical feature through polarized optical microscopy and circular dichroism spectral analysis. As it has an excellent conductivity of 2.4×10−2 S cm−1, we try to use CN-Mo2C in the electrocatalytic HER production, presenting an efficient H2 production capacity. It is a versatile synthetic strategy that can conveniently enable other large-area macroscopic chiral metal-based materials.