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Nanocrystalline Mo 2 C as a Bifunctional Water Splitting Electrocatalyst
Author(s) -
Regmi Yagya N.,
Wan Cheng,
Duffee Kyle D.,
Leonard Brian M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chemcatchem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.497
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1867-3899
pISSN - 1867-3880
DOI - 10.1002/cctc.201500677
Subject(s) - bifunctional , oxygen evolution , electrocatalyst , catalysis , water splitting , nanocrystalline material , electrolyte , electrochemistry , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , chemical engineering , materials science , electrode , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , photocatalysis , engineering
Mo 2 C is a well‐known low cost catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), but the other water splitting half reaction, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), has not been previously reported. To investigate both reactions and the origin of the catalytic sites, four synthesis methods were employed to prepare hexagonal Fe 2 N type Mo 2 C. A comparison of the HER activities in acidic and alkaline electrolyte and OER activities in alkaline electrolyte revealed that changes in synthesis route leads to morphological and surface composition variations resulting in different catalytic activities. In general, the trend in HER and OER activities show remarkably similar trends across the carbides synthesized via different routes irrespective of either electrolyte employed or reaction probed for electrocatalytic activities. Mo 2 C templated on multiwalled carbon nanotubes demonstrated the highest bifunctional catalytic activities, as well as superior electrochemical stability for both HER and OER.