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Cobalt‐Doping in Molybdenum‐Carbide Nanowires Toward Efficient Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution
Author(s) -
Lin Huanlei,
Liu Ning,
Shi Zhangping,
Guo Yulin,
Tang Yi,
Gao Qingsheng
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201600915
Subject(s) - overpotential , tafel equation , materials science , nanowire , cobalt , molybdenum , electrochemistry , doping , chemical engineering , carbide , nanotechnology , electrode , chemistry , optoelectronics , metallurgy , engineering
Efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) over noble‐metal‐free electrocatalysts provides one of the most promising pathways to face the energy crisis. Herein, facile cobalt‐doping based on Co‐modified MoO x –amine precursors is developed to optimize the electrochemical HER over Mo 2 C nanowires. The effective Co‐doping into Mo 2 C crystal structure increases the electron density around Fermi level, resulting in the reduced strength of Mo–H for facilitated HER kinetics. As expected, the Co‐Mo 2 C nanowires with an optimal Co/Mo ratio of 0.020 display a low overpotential ( η 10 = 140 and 118 mV for reaching a current density of –10 mA cm −2 ; η 100 = 200 and 195 mV for reaching a current density of –100 mA cm −2 ), a small Tafel slope (39 and 44 mV dec −1 ), and a low onset overpotential (40 and 25 mV) in 0.5 m H 2 SO 4 and 1.0 m KOH, respectively. This work highlights a feasible strategy to explore efficient electrocatalysts via engineering on composition and nanostructure.