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Porous Molybdenum Carbide Nanostructures Synthesized on Carbon Cloth by CVD for Efficient Hydrogen Production
Author(s) -
He Mengci,
Shi Hongyan,
Wang Peng,
Sun Xiudong,
Gao Bo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201904100
Subject(s) - materials science , overpotential , tafel equation , carbon fibers , chemical engineering , electrocatalyst , molybdenum , carbide , electrochemistry , nanotechnology , electrode , chemistry , composite material , metallurgy , composite number , engineering
Molybdenum carbide (Mo 2 C) is a promising noble‐metal‐free electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), due to its structural and electronic merits, such as high conductivity, metallic band states and wide pH applicability. Here, a simple CVD process was developed for synthesis of a Mo 2 C on carbon cloth (Mo 2 C@CC) electrode with carbon cloth as carbon source and MoO 3 as the Mo precursor. XRD, Raman, XPS and SEM results of Mo 2 C@CC with different amounts of MoO 3 and growth temperatures suggested a two‐step synthetic mechanism, and porous Mo 2 C nanostructures were obtained on carbon cloth with 50 mg MoO 3 at 850 °C (Mo 2 C‐850(50)). With the merits of unique porous nanostructures, a low overpotential of 72 mV at current density of 10 mA cm −2 and a small Tafel slope of 52.8 mV dec −1 was achieved for Mo 2 C‐850(50) in 1.0 m KOH. The dual role of carbon cloth as electrode and carbon source resulted into intimate adhesion of Mo 2 C on carbon cloth, offering fast electron transfer at the interface. Cyclic voltammetry measurements for 5000 cycles revealed that Mo 2 C@CC had excellent electrochemical stability. This work provides a novel strategy for synthesizing Mo 2 C and other efficient carbide electrocatalysts for HER and other applications, such as supercapacitors and lithium‐ion batteries.